Scientists have conclusively proven that tea is the second tastiest drink in the world after beer. Thanks to New York designer Joey Roth, mankind can brew the king of health drinks without resorting to nasty stainless steel or even porcelain teapots favoured by old women.

Behold, the Sorapot.

Unfortunately, Joey is cleary not a man in a hurry, as this won’t be on the market until February 2008, and even then, the first production run will be limited to 300 units.

Independent traffic reports indicate that The New York Times has gained almost 3 million users since dropping its subscription model. This follows news that Friends Reunited is considering similar measures, in an effort to stave off competition from the infinitely superior Facebook.

It’s good to see that more and more sites are realising that users do not want to pay for content they can get elsewhere for free. Granted, the NYT’s editorial is undoubtedly of the highest quality, but with the abundance of free alternatives, it was inevitable this would happen sooner or later.

On the internet, there really is such a thing as a free lunch (albeit a free lunch funded by relentless, in-your-face online advertising).

Zigzag Zombie is an intriguing typography project from typeworkshop.com:

“Take one long piece of material, and make letters by endlessly folding the material. Once you have found your specific visual style of lettering, go to the city and create a large scale zigzag lettering”

Aaron Koblin has created flight pattern visualisations using data from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Raw flight pattern data was parsed and plotted using Processing, and the frames were composited with Adobe After Effects and/or Maya.

See more (including videos) here and here.

Rolling Stone magazine has launched its first digital edition, available free online. Declining sales have forced the magazine to explore alternative revenue streams; launching an online version is a great way to reach both new a lapsed readers.

At present, the magazine can only be read using a hideous Flash-based reader called ActiveMagazine. Hopefully they’ll offer a PDF download soon, as ActiveMagazine is shitter than a shit sandwich.

Ask.com has launched a UK map service similar to offerings from Google and Microsoft. The postcode for our office brings up the following result:

Cheers Ask.com! So, Albemarle Way (London EC1V 4JB) is in the middle of the Gobi Desert? On a pair of Holly Johnson’s chinos? Oh, I despair! Ask.com, drop and give me twenty!

Yahoo! has launched KickStart, a “professional” social network aimed at college students and alumni. From first impressions, it appears to be a LinkedIn for students. The quote on the front page sums it up nicely:

Uncle Ron may work for IBM, but it doesn’t mean you want him writing on your wall or poking your friends.

Curse you uncle Ron with your incessant friend-poking!

Sexy pop midget Kylie has jumped on the social networking bandwagon too with the launch of kyliekonnect. I’ve forwarded the link to uncle Ron, who has assured me she’s in for a vigorous poking as soon as his account has been authorised.