From C-Cube to Rubik's Cube

My latest craze?
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hmm... Solving the Rubik's cube.

Rubik's Cube (commonly misspelled rubix or rubics cube) is a mechanical puzzle invented in 1974[1] by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.

Originally called the Magic Cube by its inventor, it was named Rubik's Cube in England in 1976 when David Singmaster was selling it at The Open University. Over one hundred million cubes were sold in the period from 1980 to 1982. It is said to be the world's best-selling toy, with some 300,000,000 Rubik's Cubes and imitations sold worldwide!!!!

Speedcubing solutions have been developed for solving the Rubik's Cube as quickly as possible. The most common speedcubing solution was developed by Jessica Fridrich. It is a very efficient layer-by-layer method that requires a large number of algorithms, especially for orienting and permuting the last layer. The first layer corners and second layer are done simultaneously, with each corner paired up with a second-layer edge piece.

Another well-known method was developed by Lars Petrus. In this method, a 2×2×2 section is solved first, followed by a 2x2x3, and then the incorrect edges are solved using a 3 move algorithm, which eliminates the need for a 32 move algorithm later. One of the advantages of this method is that it tends to give solutions in fewer moves. For this reason the method is also popular for fewest move competitions.


Have managed to solve a 3x3x3 in less than a minute now!
Tried the next challenge - solving the cube blind-folded.. here's the video of my attempt:



Not many people know that I had solved one when I was 7.
It's been 19 years now, so decided to make it special :-)

Have the following "unofficial" records to my name, BTW:
- Solving a 3x3x3(best of 10 attempts) : 45 sec
- Solving a 3x3x3(blindfolded) : 57 sec
- Solving a 3x3x3(after a bottle of wine) : 6 min (WOW!)


Some great sites on speedcubing:

• speedcubing.com - Speedcubing informational and Unofficial World Records site
  
• Fridrich method
  
• Petrus method
  
• Roux method
  
• Brief history of Erno Rubik's famous cube