Why solve the cube?

It's been 4 years since I learnt solving the cube, frankly I'm really glad that I had been patient to learn how to solve it. As most beginners, I used to feel, if I get some parts of the cube in the right place, maybe the rest of the pieces would just fall into place. How wrong was I?! Back, then I had no idea, that there were videos on the internet that would teach you how to solve the Rubik's cube. I would struggle for hours and end up getting just one side correct, but that would just be the beginning. It used to be frustrating, but I didn't want to give up. I started looking up the internet just to find any clues of how the cube can be solved, and found Lars Petrus's website, where he explained a rather unconventional style of solving the cube, I was making good progress and was close to solving the entire cube, but my patience began to wear thin. That was when I stumbled upon a famous YouTube tutorial at the time on solving the Rubik's cube, made by Dan Brown.

Part 1:

Part 2:

One of my inspirations to solve the cube was this scene of the Pursuit of Happiness (one of my all time faves!). I knew I just had to learn how to solve the cube!

These are my top reasons, why you should solve the cube:

1) It's a challenging puzzle, there's a lot more to it than it seems at first glimpse!
2) It helps improve Spatial Reasoning, one of the aspects in which your brain needs to be trained.
3) If you base your solving methods mostly on Algorithms, it'll improve your memory, and reasoning skills.
4) You'll definitely turn heads.
5) You'll be part of a small percentage of people on the planet who can actually solve the cube, which is roughly 3% at the moment!

V Cube 7x7 Stop-Motion Assembly

Hi Guys! Check out this cool video on YouTube, a V-Cube 7x7's assembly using Stop-Motion Animation:

The V-Cube 7, is truly a work of art isn't it?

Breaking In

Most cubes when new, are difficult to twist, as there might exist some excess friction in between them, caused by miniature bumps on the plastic. These need to be ironed out so that you can use your cube to its full potential. There are many ways of breaking into a cube, like sanding your cube, or using Vaseline over time.
Sanding, I don't recommend, as you may end up damaging your cube more than required.

Vaseline on the other hand, being petroleum jelly, actually corrodes these unwanted bumps over time. If you solve the cube regularly each day for up to 2 weeks, your cube should be broken into well. This period of 2 weeks depends on the type of cube, you're using, for the regular store bought Rubik's brand, the 2 weeks are fine. For others, it may vary a little.

Once you're done breaking into your cube you should clean it up and use a different lubricant, like Silicone spray or Silicone oil. I'll get to the lubrication bit soon. For those of you who're not too familiar with Rubik's cubes, please see my Parts and Disassembly page above or click on the following link: http://cubepedia.blogspot.in/p/parts-and-disassembly.html

Until next time, happy cubing!

Prisma Puzzle Timer

Introducing the Prisma Puzzle Timer....

As I've mentioned earlier on this blog, a timer is one of the essentials for someone seriously working towards improving his speed. Today I'm going to be talking about one such timer available for download (of which I've provided a link below) for free... the Prisma Puzzle timer.

I've used one other timer before switching to Prisma, but to give you an insight into the things that make me feel this is probably the best timer available on the Internet.

Things I like about this timer:

1) Prisma provides it's own Random generated Scrambles. This is pretty standard with Cube timers, what I like about this one though, is the fact that, its shows the state of the cube when scrambled (as seen in pic above... the scrambled cube) . Adds a nice touch, although a scrambled cube is pretty much the same, before you solve it. Not quite, in theory, the Human mind is not too good in generating it's own scrambles, we tend to repeat ourselves often. Computers on the other hand, are excellent at this feat, probably because they've got no mind! Anyway, let's carry on.

2) Helps train you at various stages of solving the cube, thus identifying areas where you're slow and need to improve your speed. I believe this feature is one of the best features in this timer. Under the Category tab, it allows you to choose between different cubes, 3x3, or 4x4, etc, and also allows you training for improving the speed of Cross Making, your F2L (Fridrich 2 Layer), OLL (Orientation of the Last Layer), etc. If your unfamiliar with these terms... Not to worry! I will address them all in time, I promise! Just keep your eye out for my updates.

3) Lastly, this timer maintains your stats really really well. From your all time personal best... to you Last 100 solves Average Mean. There's a lot more too this timer, than what's been said. I would recommend, you to def give it a try!

Things I don't like about it:

Well.... I've been using this timer for a while now, haven't noticed any Glitches yet. Do let me know if you guys encounter any problems. Probably the interface can be made more attractive, other than that, it's pretty darn good.

My Rating for this timer: 4.5/5.0

As promised here's the link to the download:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/63631548/PrismaPuzzleTimer0.4.zip

Do check this website for any latest versions:
https://bitbucket.org/walter/puzzle-timer/

The Beginner Method:

                   

First of all people who CAN solve the Rubik's cube are NO GENIUSES unlike Mr. Einstein above. All you need is patience and passion to solve the cube. There are numerous methods to solve the Rubik's cube. If you're a beginner, this as per my opinion is the best method to learn solving the Rubik's cube.

This is a 6 stage procedure as shown in the following videos, or you can skip the videos below entirely and just download the PDF below.

Stage 1: Getting to know your 3x3 Rubik's Cube:

Stage 2: Solving the White Cross

Stage 3: Solve the White Corners of the Rubik's Cube

Stage 4: Solve the Middle Layer

Stage 5:  Solve the Top Layer

Stage 6: Position the Yellow Corners Correctly

There you go! Congratulations on solving the Rubik's Cube!


PDF Solution guide Download (Right Click+Save As): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/63631548/Rubiks_cube_3x3_solution-en.pdf

Source: http://www.rubiks.com/