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According to this, at least 2700 people can solve a rubik's cube in 30 seconds. The fact that one of them is on Slashdot wouldn't be particularly surprising.

They probably used Herbert Kociemba's program:
http://kociemba.org/cube.htm
check the webcam section.

Kociemba is the creator of a very fast algorithm that solves most of the cubes in less than 25 moves in one second, using a two-phase technique (by using large precomputed tables).

Even with a slow robot only able to execute 2 moves every second, it's easy to reach 12 seconds that way.

BTW, the human records are below the 10 seconds limit:
http://www.speedcubing.com/records/recs_cube_333av.html
Average means that the human solves several cubes and computes the average time to solve them all.
Of course, humans can rotate the faces a lot faster than a robot.

Sorry, but you don't actually have a unique rarity on your hands. 5x5x5 Rubik's Cube's can be bought for about $30 in any good toy store. If you like ordering online, they're available direct from the manufacturer along with all the other versions. Also, that simulator you requested has already been written. There is a general Rubik's cube simulator available here which can simulate a cube of any size.

As to being too difficult to solve, the world record for solving one of these is 1:47.22 (that's less than two minutes). You can check out lots of records on this speedcubing site. The 4x4x4 is really pretty similar to the 3x3x3, except with extra algorithms needed for the new peices that are present. If you can solve a 3x3x3, you're most of the way to the 4x4x4. The 5x5x5 is a similar extension of the 4x4x4.

For the record, I can solve the 4x4x4, but my times are pretty awful. I don't have good algorithms for solving those extra peices, and I don't do it often enough. On the 3x3x3, though, I can consistently do it in 1:30, and that's just with home-grown algorithms some friends and I came up with.

Check out the videos in the multimedia section.

You're right, there are records for that as well, and the average records are taken far more seriously by the cubers themselves.

But there is no way to make the media write about that concept.

How about solving the 20x20 cube, like this guy?

Memorization. You get a certain amount of time to memorize the cube before beginning. Then you orient the cube with the centers in the direction you prefer, then you put the blindfold on and begin. You know when you are done when you have done all the moves you planned in your head. If you have done it correctly the cube is solved once you put it down. If not, well then it isn't really 100% blindfolded then is it?

http://www.speedcubing.com/ has a pretty decent FAQ as well as good links to other more robust blindfold or regular speedcubing tutorial sites.

I had a friend with the snake. It was pretty neat. I had the "Missing Link" and a "Square One" which basically just got to a point that it could never be solved. I never found a good algorithm for solving the Square One.

If you want something hard then try a 20x20x20 cube
http://www.speedcubing.com/chris/20cube.html

Check it out. It's pretty unsettling watching someone solve the cube that fast.

According to this, a french guy handily beat that record... coming in at 11.75 seconds

I have just completed this cube all by myself and deem me Champion Of The Rubic Universe. Took me 7 years to do it, plus two thumb replacements, but I did it.

My newest project is this cube, I project 10 years for this.

I have just completed this cube all by myself and deem me Champion Of The Rubic Universe. Took me 7 years to do it, plus two thumb replacements, but I did it.

My newest project is this cube, I project 10 years for this.

I didn't even know there were different sizes. :-)

some people take things TO THE EXTREME!!!@11!1eleven

btw, here's a site for rubik's geeks that like to take apart their cubes and build even more interesting designs... the site has lots of cool pix too.

Speedcubing.com maintains an unofficial world record for 'solving' the cube by assembly.

http://speedcubing.com/records/recs_dext.html#3x3a ssemble

Erno Rubik didn't solve his 1st cube in over a month, and didn't know if it was possible until then.
The best averages I've ever heard of are in the low 17's. 12 seconds is outrageous and would surely be a lucky case, where the last layer was coincidentally solved.
Blindfolded cubers that I've read of have a 15 minute study time.
Many people can solve a 20x20x20 cube (like the one at oinkleburger, but even some of the fastest people in the world (like Chris )take hours and hours to do it.
The world's fastest one handed cuber has a video (see last link, Chris) of his world record solve with one hand.
God's algorithm is available online...you painstakingly input your cube's current orientation and it comes back with the turns to solve it. if the cube will take 18 or more turns (which is rare), you'll be letting your machine churn overnight, it does every possible turn!
My name is skinny and I'm a cubaholic!

Here are a couple of links if you want to get better at solving it:

Lars Petrus' method for speed
Dan Knight, the world champion
Jessica Fridrich. Her method is used by many.
www.speedcubing.com
www.rubiks.dk
A solution some think is easy.

I bought my first cube 2 months ago and today I completed it in 56.98 seconds! After loads of practice of course.

I used the corners first algorithm. Its not what the fastest cubers use, but its much easier to learn, because its more "natural". It also has a shorter average number of moves (under 60, IIRC). Though I say "easier", it takes several months!

It's not a new world record, it's simply a new championship winner. The world record is still 16.53 seconds.

good videos of speed cubing and techniques can be found here.

Haha, it only took me a minute to solve the 3D version!

Bah, as long as one minute? You are slow.

Check out this site, especially the multimedia section. There are videos of guys that solve the cube in less than 20 seconds!

The best way to solve a given cube is called "God's algorithm" to us Rubik's geeks (I can average about 50 s. solving a cube, which is ok, but not phenomenal). It's 18 moves. The method behind it is far too complicated for a person to do without a computer to assist, but using a rather simple method, a person can very easily solve a cube in around 65 moves, but slowly. The record-breaking solution times are closer to a hundred moves, but rather than remembering a move-efficient but thought-intensive way to solve it, one remembers many more algos that whose situation can be recognized much more quickly.

And for the previous posts asking how long it takes a computer to do it... it's very, very low. Under a second. Many people can do it, manually (a computer just has to give the moves, it can ignore the time required to actually turn the cube) in under 20 seconds (For the people out there in disbelief, Dan Knights has a video of him actually doing it in 17, it's for real. I won't post the link, because I'm not going to be responsible for slashdotting his site).

There's a huge difference between a computer solving it "brute force", and a person or computer solving it through established algorithms. By brute force, just twirling the cube until the solution popped up, it would take on average however long it takes your computer to process half of the possible combinations. That's quite a long time. However, a computer solving a cube how we would, focusing on time rather than least amount of moves, could easily solve more than one a second.

The best speedcubists, after years and years of hard work can only reach 17 secs on average (Marc Waterman, Ron Van Bruchem, Dan Knights, Jessica Fridrich, Katsuyuki Konishi...).

10 secs is possible only with an EXTREMELY lucky starting configuration (solving requiring about 30 moves).

Take a look at the Unofficial world records board

My best average is slightly above 20 secs, but I have the world record in the "under water" category ;-)

Gilles.

16.5

22.95

Dutch Cube Day in Leiden

Thanx for posting my site! I feel honorbound to point out that I'm the Swedish champion, but only came 4th in the world championships. Many people seem to make a shortcut and claim I'm the world champion...

Also, I've moved my site but not redirected the old one (I really should get that done...), so an updated version of that page with some speed quicktime videos is available here: http://lar5.com/cube/speed.html

BTW, some people (most of whom were hardly born at the time of the first championship) are working on putting together the second World Championships next year. More info on http://www.speedcubing.com. These kids are really fast, so I don't expect to win, but I'll definitely be there.