While you probably don’t have a need for a Rubik’s Cube in your house these days, you definitely need to take a bath from time to time to keep from stinking. So why not make it fun, and grab this Rubik’s Cube soap block, from DigitalSoaps?

This thing is a dead-ringer for the original puzzle, with all the perfect grooves and 54 colorful stickers hand-applied to the underlying form. Only the bottom is a little different (it’s completely flat), presumably because that’s how the soap molding process works. Still, it’s got yellow stickers on it, but you probably don’t want to show off that side.

Just like the original Rubik’s Cube, you’ll need to peel off the stickers to solve this puzzle – unless you want a bunch of stickers stuck to your bottom when you get out of the tub. Unlike the original Cube, this one smells like grape soda. This was only the case with the original if your little brother got out those Mr. Sketch scented grape markers and drew all over yours.

If you’d like a Rubik’s Cube soap for yourself, head on over to Etsy, where you can grab one for $22 (USD).

This cube has one regular thickness layer, but then all the other faces are super skinny, creating many more permutations as you rotate each layer, never mind the off-kilter handling that you’re bound to encounter with a puzzle shaped like this. You can choose from a 3x3x9 variant, or the slightly simpler 3x3x7 version, if you’re intimidated by the more complex cube. Despite their looks, there’s apparently a “New Playing Method” which can be used to quickly solve these too.

And no, these aren’t official “Rubik’s” brand cubes – they’re simply listed as “IQ Brick Cubes,” but you get the point. You can get the 3x3x9 or the 3x3x7 over at Brando for $26.90 (USD) each.

The Rubitone was designed by Ignacio Pilotto back in 2008, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it. The cool thing about this cube is that not all of the cubes on the same side are the same color. Instead, they are different intensities, which makes things interesting and a bit more difficult to solve. At least each row has the same shade. He could have made it even more challenging by making each individual cube a different PMS color.

If you’re a digital artist, it definitely makes choosing the right Pantone color quick, since you have access to 18 selections in one handy cube.

[via Jay Mug]

In order to get that pixellated look, each Rubik’s Cubes had to be turned into the correct positions to a small 3×3 portion of the larger image. It’s an amazing piece of art, and the result is quite spectacular.

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He calls this work Dream Big, and it’s most definitely that. For a short time, it was also the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube mosaic. Pete is part of the CubeWorks collective, a collaborative group of artists creating works using Rubik’s Cubes as their medium.

[via DesignYouTrust]

One person who isn’t lacking in any of these is David Calvo.

David is currently the Guinness World Record holder for solving the most Rubik’s Cubes in one hour (which was 185 cubes, in case you were wondering.) David’s latest feat still involves the Rubik’s Cubes, although it’s way more cooler than just sitting down and cracking through them as quickly as possible, because he’s actually juggling two cubes while solving a third one with just his left hand.

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Pretty neat, eh?

[via Reddit]

The robot is made from LEGO parts and powered by an Android smart phone. This is proof that bots don’t stop at taking just our jobs, they are now solving our puzzles too. What’s next? Playing our video games faster and better than we can? They’ll never touch my high score on Galaxian. If they try, I’ll be the John Henry of video games. I’ll fight it in any arcade until I die on my feet at the controls.

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CubeStormer II is controlled by four LEGO  NXT ‘bricks’ that communicate with a Samsung Galaxy SII. A special app takes a picture of the cube, solves the puzzle, and then relays the solution to the LEGO robot. Wait. Who’s solving this? The bot or the phone?

[via Singularity Hub]

The chest also has another kind of puzzle in the form of hidden locks for each drawer. When the drawers are locked, you have to remove the colored wooden tiles and look for dowels underneath, which you then push to open the drawers. Since you can rotate the drawers and rearrange the wooden tiles, it can be a fun albeit easy to solve puzzle for Makendo’s kids.

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Check out Instructables for the full how-to.

[via Neatorama]

Chris used old Rubik’s cubes, super glue, paint, the CAD program SolidWorks, a 3D printer and Dremel tools to create the fully functional puzzle toys. Here’s the original cube in action:

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Depending on how you look at it, that cube is either too hard or too easy to solve because all six faces look the same, a mistake that Chris rectified in the succeeding versions by using different color combinations for each side as well as by using different symbols.

Check out Chris’ Flickr page for more pictures of the Companion Cubes and other Portal toys. What’s next Chris? A GLaDOS Speak & Spell?

[via Nerd Approved]

I have long since given up on trying to learn the technique or pattern that he was always telling me to look out for. He says Rubik’s Cubes relieve him of his stress, but in my case, it does the opposite. Every Rubik’s Cube, that is, except for this one.

That’s because this isn’t really a real Rubik’s Cube at all. It’s just a stress ball cube that was made to look like one, though. And with this particular Rubik’s Cube, I can finally get some stress relief because no brain power has to go into trying to “figure out” this cube, that’s for sure.

The Retro Rubik’s Cube Stress Ball is available from I Want One Of Those (I love what the people behind the store call their shop) for £4.99 (~$8 USD).

[via Foolish Gadgets]

Nope, the reason I couldn’t solve it was the 170-degree scalding coffee that spilled all over my hands when I turned it over.

The Rubik’s Cube Mug is available over at Perpetual Kid for $12.99 (USD). Goes great with the Rubik’s Cube coasters.

Some college students at the Swinburne University of Technology including David and Richard Bain, Daniel Purvis, Jarrod Boyes, Miriam Parkinson and Jonathan Goldwasser built a robot for their engineering project called Ruby. Ruby is able to solve that Rubik’s Cube much faster than I ever could.

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The bot solved the puzzle in just over 10 seconds. It is able to solve the puzzle by scanning each face of the cube and then it uses a software algorithm to solve the puzzle. The scanning process is very fast since it can scan, identify the solution, and solve in less than 11 seconds. While Ruby is the fastest documented cube-solving robot, the fastest human time for solving the cube is 6.24 seconds so Ruby still needs some improvements to beat that.

[via Physorg]

These Rubik’s Coasters look like slices of a real cube, but are designed to keep that drinksweat (if that’s a word) off of your tabletop. Of course if you stack these out of order, they’ll form what would probably be the world’s easiest puzzle to solve.

To me, this looks way easier than that time I tried to slice a Rubik’s Cube with a table saw, so I think it’s worth the £12.99 (~$21 USD) for a set of six over at SpinningHat.

If you’re looking for a compact and quirky speaker, then this is one solution. You can order the Rubik’s Speaker from Spinning Hat for £19.99 (approx. $33 USD).

BananaNeil claims that he had to manually configure the Rubik’s Cubes with each shot. Although just thinking about the process is enough to give one a headache I don’t think peeling off the colored stickers would be any easier, especially since they’re not made to be peeled off and re-applied repeatedly.

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So why all go through that trouble? BananaNeil actually made this video to promote his Facebook game, N-Tris. I’m not a Tetris fan but after seeing that video I just had to play the game even just a couple of times. It’s the least I can do.

[via Neatorama]

Instructables member Overlord5 used two groups each of the function keys, the numpad keys and the row of numbers on top of the letters to make his Rubik’s cube, but obviously you’re free to make your own combination.

Check out Instructables for the full walkthrough. If you’re not familiar with picture Rubik’s Cubes, Overlord5 recommends you watch this video that shows how they’re solved. I wonder if anyone’s made a Rubik’s Cube using touchscreens on all six sides.

[via Unconsumption via DudeCraft]

There’s not much to be said about this thing, except that it probably requires every synapse to be firing in your brain in order to solve it, since all the pieces look almost identical, and they’re all the same delicious brainy color.

[via Super Punch via Neatorama]

Using 3D printing technology, puzzle-maker Oskar van Deventer managed to create this insanely complex version of the cube.  Oskar assembled the cube from 1539 individually dyed pieces, resulting in this oversize 5.5″ cube. I can’t imagine how anyone could solve this thing, but now that it actually exists, where there’s a will there’s a way, right? I guess there’s the possibility that Oskar could could spend the next few years of his life trying to sort it out.

And since the design has actually been turned into a digital format, you can print one for yourself – for the low, low price of $2006.54 (USD). Unless I can rearrange the stickers to solve it, no thanks.

[via Shapeways via adafruit industries]

This shirt was designed by Red Bubble seller Jimiyo. If you look closely though, you’ll see that it has one minor flaw: there are only five tile designs shown, even though a Rubik’s Cube is supposed to have six different tile colors or patterns. Maybe the sixth tile hasn’t been crafted yet.

It would also have been geekier if the shirt had been named Persson‘s Cube. You can get the Mine Cube t-shirt at Red Bubble for approx. $19 (USD). The shirt comes in a variety of colors. The design is also available as a sticker.

Some people might argue that they’ve taken all of the challenge out of the Rubik’s Cube. Me? I say that they’ve only gotten rid of the frustration. Only one cube rotates, and it only goes 90-degrees and back. This serves to extend and retract the USB connector that you’ll need to insert into your computer if you want to take advantage of the 2GB-8GB of storage contained within. You can grab one for as little as $17.

[via ChipChick]

This isn’t his first tiny Rubik’s Cube. He’s got 12mm Rubik’s Cubes for sale for $15 if you want one for yourself. If you’re like me and you’ve got trouble with the big version, then you’ll no doubt appreciate how handy and small this one is. You can easily carry five or six in your pocket to share with your friends any time!

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It’s amazing how small this is. I wonder if he’ll be successful in creating an even smaller version – maybe one that could only be solved under an electron microscope with tweezers.

[via Dark Roasted Blend]