40th anniversary of the Rubik's cube.

Here's a link to try it out if you missed it.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the 3x3 Rubik's cube. On 1974 today the cube was created by Erno Rubik, cubing has come a very long way since then. Ever since this puzzle started grabbing its worldwide audience, everyone has been intrigued by one thing about this puzzle:"How do you solve it?".
The curiosity about the cube turned it into the number one most sold toy in the world. Speed cubing communities emerged and created an association which holds large cubing events all across the globe. World records have been set and hundreds of other companies have been inspired to make 3D puzzles.
And today, Google has honored this day with a brand new interactive Google doodle which can reach thousands of people around the world and even maybe boost its already incredibly large popularity.
my high score on the doodle was 2:23.

Why NOT to use DW40 silicone as a Cube lubricant.

Recently I tried to find a good lubricant at Ace Hardware and I Found with WD40 Silicone. I didn't have a great success using regular WD40 on my old cube so I was hesitant on purchasing it. In the end i decided to give it a try just to see what it could do since it had silicone this time. I sprayed it into my original Rubik's brand 3x3 and 4x4 for a first impression. on my Rubik's 3x3 there was immediate improvement and it didn't dry out for a good week or two. However the 4x4 didn't seem to have much effect even though i gave it a generous spray. I was impressed with what it did to my old 3x3 so i decided It was time to test it on my main speed cube, Dayan IV Zhanchi. I sprayed it cautiously around and inside the mechanism of the cube, careful not to spray too much in case it started to melt the plastic. After I finished i gave it a few solves and felt its turning with WD40 for the first time. It was terrible. I felt the cube to be a lot stickier at many instances and the lubricant tended to leak out of the sides and bottom quite repeatedly till i felt there was barely any left inside. I knew it felt better before but I gave it a chance. For a few days I tried to break in the lube but decided it was hopeless and wiped it out. later on I could see small flakes of plastic falling off and a strange after smell to it. WD40 might be good on bicycles and doors, but speedcubes are really not their thing. NOTE: I am not against their product but I am simply stating that it shouldn't be used as a puzzle lubricant.

Ghost Cubes

A week or two back Mefferts announced that they were going to mass produce the Ghost cube (pictured).Which was surprising because these puzzles would be very expensive to manufacture due to the fact that each and every piece of a Ghost cube was different in size and shape and each would need a different mold. A ghost cube is a very difficult puzzle which requires the solver to twist each corner and place every individual piece in its place from a scrambled position. This cube does shape shift thus making it a much bigger challenge.

Speed Cubing

by 

Suhail Nishad Kaippally

Hi, I started cubing two years ago now i am improving times and growing my cube collection.

here is a current list of puzzles in my possession :-

2x2 Rubik's brand cube

3x3 Rubik's brand cube

4x4 Rubik's brand cube

Rubik's Twist ^Tm
Dayan Zanchi 3x3

^{Right now my collection isn't too impressive but i plan on getting a mega minx, 5x5 and a few others.}

If you may know a year back a brand new cube was released by Dayan called the Dayan Panshi, It seems to have a similar mechanism to the Zhanchi except that the core is smaller and the stalks of the pieces are thinner, it even has tinier torpedoes. It is also regarded to be not so great at corner cutting due to the reduced size of the torpedoes but it does go up to about 35 to 40 degrees before the center starts to spin and the cube explodes. So you should tension it carefully. Unlike the Zhanchi  it only comes in one size (57 mm) whereas the Zanchi comes in 42 mm 50 mm 55 mm and so on. But overall I think its a fine cube for both beginners and speed cubers.