All posts tagged: cubes

I Despise Packing (With A Passion). Here Are The Cubes That Stop Me Having A Pre-Flight Meltdown

I Despise Packing (With A Passion). Here Are The Cubes That Stop Me Having A Pre-Flight Meltdown

Published by Sam Flores

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. You book your flights, hire a car, decide where to stay and what to do. The holiday excitement is building. But somehow, when it comes down to it, you don’t want to pack. As a firm believer that packing is the worst task of the holiday (especially when you’ve made some misguided purchases you have to squeeze into your luggage coming home) I always put it off until the last minute. Unsurprisingly, this has often resulted in being completely underprepared for any realistic situation I might find myself in (and overprepared for the imaginary scenarios in my head). Most often, I end up so overpacked it’s impossible to unravel anything I need without sprinkling …

The best packing cubes for travel in 2025, tried and tested

The best packing cubes for travel in 2025, tried and tested

Published by Sam Flores

If you’re a frequent traveller but a bad packer (it’s surprising how often these two things go hand in hand), you might find yourself searching for the best packing cubes. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, a packing cube is essentially a fabric pouch designed to organise your clothes in a suitcase or carry-on luggage, and they typically compress soft items to help maximise space. However tempting it may be to jump on Amazon and order the first ones that can be delivered in time for your holiday, the best packing cubes for travel actually vary a fair amount. Some are more technical, others compress, expand or have pockets for dirty laundry. I’ve tried packing cubes from the biggest brands, including Osprey and Antler. You can find my full reviews below, followed by advice from experts on whether to roll or fold and which brands are worth buying. The best packing cubes: At a glance “Think about what sorts of trips you go on,” says Claire Robinson, founder of Weekend Candy, a …

Brothers build a robot to solve Rubik’s cubes in record-setting time

Brothers build a robot to solve Rubik’s cubes in record-setting time

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. A pair of brothers in the U.K. have officially broken the Guinness World Record for the fastest time solving a four-by-four Rubik’s Cube with a robot. Their DIY machine, which the brothers call The Revenger, completed the puzzle in only 45.3 seconds. That’s 33 seconds faster than the next fastest robot. If that wasn’t enough, the 45.3-second record actually breaks the 55-second record their own robot set just a few tries earlier.  Not too shabby for a pair of undergraduate students. The Revenger sets World Record for 4×4 Cube Solving Robot Matthew and Thomas Pidden built their robot over the course of 15 weeks during Matthew’s time at the University of Bristol. The robot consists of two parts: a physical body and a software component. A pair of dual webcams scan the cube, while two custom-built robot arms grab and manipulate it. A nearby laptop runs a specially coded algorithm (basically the robot’s brain) which analyzes data from the …

Best Packing Cubes for Every Kind of Trip (2026), Tested and Reviewed

Best Packing Cubes for Every Kind of Trip (2026), Tested and Reviewed

Published by skeptic

Other Great Packing Cubes Photograph: Kat Merck Shacke Pak Packing Cubes for $29 (set of 8): These were pretty good quality for an Amazon brand; there’s a sturdy handle and the material is slightly thicker than other packing cubes at this price point. I like the mix of mesh for breathability and opaque fabric for privacy. They come in nine colors, but the colors are clownishly bright (blue pictured above), and the four-paneled mesh design reminds me of a jock strap. Shacke says it uses YKK zippers on all its packing cubes, but I peeled back the covering on the zipper and could not find a YKK insignia anywhere. Photograph: Kat Merck Calpak Packing Cubes Set for $68 (set of 5): This is the first set of packing cubes I ever owned, and it’s what kicked off my obsession with travel organization. There’s just something generally satisfying about the size and layout of these lightweight polyester cubes (pictured at left) that have a mostly mesh front for visibility and breathability. There’s a little window where …

Restaurant to charge for “artisanal” ice cubes

Restaurant to charge for “artisanal” ice cubes

Published by skeptic

Second State, a restaurant opening on Tuesday in Washington D.C., is going to charge one dollar for a single artisanal ice cube to be plunked into your drink. No, that is not a dumb joke made by a dumb blogger trying to think of a dumb thing that dumb young people would do. It is a true fact about our world. The restaurant calls it a “hand-cut rock” (oh brother) and customers will only be charged when they order a drink that doesn’t usually come with ice. Washington City Paper reports: The Pennsylvania-themed spot, which is set to open in the former Mighty Pint space at 1831 M St. NW on Oct. 21, will be the first place in D.C. with an ice surcharge listed on its cocktail menu. (Most bars eat the cost or build it into the price of the drink.) Granted, these are no freezer-burned, generic tray cubes. This is the fancy, unclouded artisanal stuff from D.C.’s boutique ice company Favourite Ice, founded by local bartenders Owen Thomson and Joseph Ambrose. Second …