This kid can perform mathemagic!

How quickly can you work this out — add 34 to 446, subtract 323, multiply by 676 and divide it by 7? Even before you can begin the calculations, this wonderkid is ready with the answer.

For Tejas, a Class VI student, numbers have never been a challenge. At the age of 11, he was awarded a certificate for fastest mental calculations by the Limca Book of Records.

"Photographic memory can be developed through regular practice. Tejas underwent the ALOHA (Abacus Learning of Higher Arithmetic) programme, which brought out his skills with numbers. He can add, subtract, divide and multiply any number of two or three digits within seconds," said M Gururaj, ALOHA teacher.

Tejas was inspired to perform mental calculations at a programme attended by kids from China.

Trism iPhone Puzzle Game To Cost Five Bucks

What can you buy for five bucks these days? Depending on where you go, that might not even be enough for a light lunch at a fast food restaurant. Depending where you are, it'll get about a gallon and a half of gas. It's not that much money, is it?You might remember the revealing of Trism back in February and how the developer wanted to throw it up on the iTunes Apps Store when that launches. Now that the SDK is widely available, it has been announced that Trism will indeed be available for the iPhone and it'll sell for five dollars through the iTunes Apps Store. Trism is set to launch in June.Gameplay is very similar to Bejeweled, except that Trism makes use of the iPhone's accelerometer and tilt sensor too. For the commercial copy of the game, they're throwing in support for online achievement rankings and they're teasing at "the odd hidden feature." Maybe it has a Doom hack or something.

Video game Professor Layton and the Curious Village gets more curious

Nearly everything in and about Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a puzzle. Ask a villager for directions, and you'll get a response akin to "Sure, I can help ya. Say, that reminds me of a puzzle. Maybe you can help me figure it out?" Pet a cat, and someone likely will be reminded of a puzzle about mice.

Look at a picture, and chances are you'll discover a hidden puzzle.

With all of these puzzles popping out at you from every direction, it's difficult to stay on track and solve the bigger mysteries of St. Mystere, the "curious village" of the game's title.

Professor Layton is a series that grew out Akihiro Hino's love of brain teasers. The president of game development house Level 5, Akihiro Hino enjoys the work of Akira Tago, professor emeritus of Chiba University and author of the "Head Gymnastics" series of puzzle books.

Rascal Flatts Join the Rubik's Revolution(TM)

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Techno Source, the leader in electronic toys and games, announces today a partnership with Rascal Flatts granting the group the exclusive right to host the Rubik's Revolution(TM) Light Speed(TM) online game on their Fan site www.rascalflatts.com. Rascal Flatts fans also have the chance to win one of 100 award-winning Rubik's Revolution cubes by April 30, 2008 and one lucky winner will win a pair of tickets and passes to meet Rascal Flatts at a concert of his/her choice.

"Since the Rubik's Revolution came out last summer, we have watched it become a pop-culture phenomenon," says Jay DeMarcus, Rascal Flatts. "We're excited that we can share the Light Speed online game with our fans on our Web site and give them the chance to win a Rubik's Revolution cube of their own."

Toy industry analyst Gerrick L.

Benjamin Franklin Plays Sudoku

Only in the last five years has sudoku been capturing people's recreational time. But 250 years ago, Benjamin Franklin was developing fascinating puzzles with principles quite similar to sudoku, keeping himself occupied while taking a break from his electrical investigations. Now, a mathematician has discovered two Franklin puzzles even more fantastic than those previously known and written a book describing all of Franklin's mathematical endeavors.

In Benjamin Franklin's Numbers: An Unsung Mathematical Odyssey (Princeton University Press, 2007), Paul C. Pasles of Villanova University in Pennsylvania argues that Franklin's mathematical achievements have long been overlooked. Franklin applied common-sense quantitative reasoning in many areas where it had never been used—for example, calculating the economic costs of war and slavery, and making population forecasts before the field of population demographics had been developed.

Growing younger

ATWATER -- For centuries people have been searching for the "Fountain of Youth" but the elusive prolonger of life is nowhere to be found and may not exist at all. Still an Atwater man believes it's possible to halt the advance of time even in later years.

Sam Dolber teaches a noncredit Merced College class in Atwater called "Growing Younger." His philosophy is the mind is like a muscle and if we don't use it, we'll lose it. Various games, puzzles and mental exercises are just the ticket to grow younger, he believes.

"We cannot avoid growing older in years but we can always choose to stay young in spirit," Dolber said. "We do not stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing."

In the 1500s Spanish explorer Juan Ponce De Leon sailed the seas looking for the magical live-forever water source that the Puerto Ricans were talking about.

American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament will take place Feb.29-March 2 at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott Hotel in New York.

Contestants from all over the world will converge on the hotel to compete for prizes in more than 20 categories. The grand prize is $5,000. Points are awarded for both speed and accuracy.

The event, which is directed by Will Shortz, was started in 1978 at the Stamford Marriott in Stamford, Conn., as a way to fill up the hotel during the winter. That year 149 contestants participated, and the top prize was $250.

The contest has grown every year, but took a huge leap after the 2006 film "Wordplay" focused attention on it. It finally outgrew Stamford, "and we had to move to Brooklyn," Shortz says.

People not attending the tournament can still participate online.