The original Rubik’s Cube was an eighties sensation. It was a simple puzzle cube released for $10 a pop and everyone went mad for it. I’d say the idea has been done to death as countless less talented people than Erno Rubik have tried to emulate his success with lesser puzzles. The latest attempt to cash in on the old craze is the Rubik’s Touch Cube.

It’s funny how we get obsessed with new technologies and then have to try them out in every way possible. The idea of touch control has become super popular thanks to the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It is inevitably being incorporated into various digital media players and mobile phones and it is taking off in the world of computers as well. These are all good applications for the technology. It is tactile and convenient to be able to browse music or files via a flick of your finger. It is also easier and faster than using a mouse.

The trouble is, now that touch functionality is popular, some companies will want to use it in inappropriate ways. Behold the Rubik’s Touch Cube. If ever there was a device that doesn’t need touch functionality it would have to be a puzzle cube. While the original Rubik’s Cube was $10 this latest release will set you back $150 and it comes complete with a recharging stand which you’ll have to use periodically if you want to solve the puzzle.

You can change the colors by running your finger across it and you can get hints or scramble the cube. When you touch a row the color change is accompanied by a sound effect which is supposed to be like gears turning. The touch functionality is apparently very sensitive, making it easy to accidentally change squares. Why you would want to spend $150 on a daft modernisation of the Rubik’s Cube is beyond me. The one feature it does have which was sorely lacking in the original is a solve button.