
Phone Rubik Cube Solver Is Pure Genius - zain
http://i.gizmodo.com/5141731/iphone-rubik-cube-solver-is-pure-genius
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dangrover
Sweet.

Looks like the guy used my app PhoneFinger to create the demo video!
<http://wonderwarp.com/phonefinger>

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lpgauth
That's a neat idea. I might use it in our demo.

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jcl
Should be "iPhone" in the title.

(I had visions of an automated answering service: "What is the color of the
top of the upper left edge cube? Press 1 for red, 2 for green...")

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s3graham
Wow, even worse than that is that I read it as "iPhone" :/

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Tichy
Me too - scary...

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paul7986
Huh - use an iPhone app to solve a rubik's cube?

Why not just create an iPhone rubik's cube app that uses the accelerometer?

I'd prefer an intangible version!

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Tichy
Fail to see how this is so much more genius than the existing web sites for
rubik cube solutions.

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mattmaroon
I would say the real genius is the ability to do it via the camera rather than
inputting 54 squares. Seems a lot easier.

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boredguy8
Not to pooh-pooh, but when I saw him manually enter the squares, I thought
"this is embarrassing, the phone has a camera!" And you have to load the
photos, you can't take the photo from inside the app. Maybe a real limit of
the iPhone, I don't know...but ultimately it's hardly genius.

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latortuga
Anybody else feel a little strange with all the references to "Rubik cube"
instead of "Rubik's cube"?

I spent Christmas break about two years ago learning to solve a Rubik's cube.
It took me about a week of practicing no more than an hour or two a day and I
had it down. I've forgotten the last few steps now but I can still solve about
2/3 of the cube pretty easily. This strikes me as one of those moments where I
realize that this my Rubik's cube strategy was totally a programmer solution.

1\. "Neat puzzle, there's gotta be an algorithm I can apply to solve this."

2\. Learn algorithm and gain 10 sexy points while solving it in front of your
friends.

versus

1\. Google for software to solve it for me.

or better yet:

1\. Take off all the stickers

2\. reapply to fit desired pattern or color-coordination

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Timothee
The thing is that, unless you actually come up with a solution yourself, you
"cheat" by either learning someone else's solution or by one of your two other
solutions. But only the former can really be interesting and something that
you can "show off".

I'm not judging you though. I did the same thing but practiced on speed
instead of the algorithm :)

Surprisingly, it does have some sexy points. Recently, I was pushed to solve
one during a party and, while I was feeling like a total nerd, people looked
sincerely impressed.

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critic
If I had thought of such an idea, I would have rejected it on the grounds of
practicality: who needs Rubik solvers? Isn't the point of it to solve it
yourself? And how popular are Rubik Cubes these days anyhow?

Would I have been wrong? Does this app appear to be headed for commercial
success?

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tlrobinson
Who _needs_ a fart simulator?

Apparently some of the most successful iPhone apps that are totally frivolous,
but fun enough that people show their friends to the point where they become
viral.

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jodrellblank
It can't be "genius" because I had the same idea independantly a few weeks ago
(an iPhone photo-Rubik's-cube-solver).

(I was thinking of it taking two photos, each pointing at opposite corners of
a cube and encompassing three sides).

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hrabago
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=443913>

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boredguy8
Why can't I take a picture from a "corner" and get 3 sides of the cube at
once?

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brandnewlow
Some pretty slick graphics in that app.

