How to Best a Master Lock

By Mark Wilson (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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There are 64,000 potential combinations in a Master Lock. With a few easy steps, you can figure out the last number of any combination. From there, you'll crack the lock in 100 attempts or less. [MarkEdwardCampos via HackaDay]

Rubik's TouchCube Is The World's First Touchscreen Rubik's Cube

By John Mahoney

Sometimes we don't know what we need, and certain magical companies make that decision for us. I'm afraid Techno Source may have done exactly that with this, the world's first touchscreen Rubik's cube.

The TouchCube works just like its more antiquated brethren, but instead of grinding the actual spinning cogs (manual labor is for suckers!), a simple swipe of the finger in a straight line or an 'L' shape (for rotations) does the trick. There's an accelerometer built in that ensures only the upwards-facing surfaces respond to your touch, so you can still hold the thing.

And it wouldn't be a touchscreen Rubik's cube without a few improvements: namely, the TouchCube can solve itself as you watch, and even teach you, step by step, how to do it. So you can be one of those kids we all marveled at in school (Ben Shepple, this one's for you) who could solve a cube in a matter of seconds. Built-in memory will also save your cube's state if you need to take a break.

Techno Source has spent three years hard at work in their underground puzzle and wonderment factory to bring us the TouchCube, and now, behold, it can be ours. For $150 this fall. We'll try to do some hands-on solving later this week at NYC's massive Toy Fair-be on the lookout for more.

Man takes 26 years to solve Rubik’s Cube

Finally done: Graham Parker with his cube

It has taken most of his life – but, after 26 years, builder Graham Parker has finally solved the puzzle of the Rubik's Cube.

When he bought the toy in 1983, Yuri Andropov was leader of the Soviet Union, breakfast TV was a novelty and music CDs were in the shops for the first time.

'I cannot tell you what a relief it was to finally solve it,' the 45-year-old from Portchester, Hampshire, said. 'It has driven me mad over the years – it felt like it had taken over my life.

'I have missed important events to stay in and solve it and I would lie awake at night thinking about it.

'I have had wrist and back problems from spending hours on it but it was all worth it. When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour, I wept.'

Wife Jean, 47, said it had felt like there had been three people in their marriage.

'When I met Graham, he was already obsessed with the cube – spending hours on it every day,' she said. 'I have often thought about getting rid of it but I knew he would not rest until he had solved it.'

A spokesman for the governing body for competitions involving the puzzle, the World Cube Association, said it was 'definitely the longest it has taken' to finish the cube.