The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle is a delightful and whimsical interactive book created by bestselling author and illustrator Erin Gleeson. This unique book combines the charm of a traditional children's picture book with the challenge and engagement of a puzzle. The story is set in a magical forest where animals gather for a grand feast. The beautiful illustrations bring the forest and its inhabitants to life, with vibrant colors and intricate details. As readers flip through the pages, they are invited to solve puzzles and uncover hidden objects. The puzzles in The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle are designed to engage young readers and test their observation and problem-solving skills.
Setup in 3 Easy Steps
My only guess as to the reason for this is that my truck has wireless carplay already and the Magic Box was constantly fighting my phone when re-started since it would try to connect to it 1st even though it was not plugged in. Both Android Auto and Apple Carplay work by connecting over BT, and then opening a backchannel peer-to-peer WiFi connection between the phone and the box.
The puzzles in The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle are designed to engage young readers and test their observation and problem-solving skills. From finding hidden forest creatures to solving riddles and mazes, there is a wide variety of challenges to keep children entertained and engaged. The book also features a whimsical narrative that inspires imagination and creativity.
Review of "The Magic Box" AA/Carplay dongle
First off- not in any way affiliated with the company. I haven't seen any other reviews (or any info at all, really), so though I would write down some thoughts. This is for a wireless AA/Carplay dongle (sorry, should have said that in the title).
This went into a 2021 Rav4 Prime, which supports wired AA/Carplay. My wife is an Apple fan and uses Carplay, I'm an Android guy using Android auto (Oneplus 8T). I previously used a GiWiOS wireless adapter, which was about $80 on Amazon, and seemed to work well enough, but switching between AA and Carplay required rebooting, and about 50% of the time it wouldn't reconnect cleanly to the car without unplugging/plugging USB to the dongle. I figured I would try something else to see if it did a better job switching between wireless AA and Carplay.
I bought The Magic Box and The Magic Remote for about $400 total. Yeah, this thing is expensive. The box itself at a high level is fundamentally a small Android device with 4GB RAM and 64GB Flash running Android 11. It can connect to a car over a USB cable and (I think) talks Carplay with your car; which is weird, because it's running Android internally, but go figure. The touchscreen in the car works well enough with it. It also has an HDMI output, so I imagine you can use it like a FireTV dongle when travelling.
When booted up, it shows an Android UI with a bunch of app icons (I'll call this the "streaming UI"). The first thing to do is click the settings icon and connect to a WiFi AP. Where do you get a WiFi AP? Here's the first hitch- you either need your car to provide an in-car WiFi connection, or you need to turn on hotspot mode on your phone and use your phone as an AP.
Once you have WiFi configured, you can then login with your Google account, go to the Google Play Store, and install whatever other apps you like, including Netflix, Paramount, Disney, whatever.
The UI also has some special icons. One icon launches wireless Android Auto; another launches wireless Apple Carplay. You can then pair your phone (Android or Apple, respectively) with the Magic Box BT connection. I got Android Auto working fine, haven't gotten my wife's Apple Carplay working (but haven't tried much yet).
However, here's where the Magic kindof goes off the rails. Both Android Auto and Apple Carplay work by connecting over BT, and then opening a backchannel peer-to-peer WiFi connection between the phone and the box. But remember how earlier we had to pair the Magic box to an AP (either in-car or your phone hotspot)?- this is a different WiFi connection than that one, and neither the phone nor the Magic Box can use both concurrently.
Your phone can typically either use Android Auto or be in hotspot mode, but not both at the same time. So switching between the Magic Box streaming API and Android Auto required me to manually turn my phone's hotspot mode on and off to switch between the two.
Luckily, my car also supports in-car WiFi (as long as I pay ATT $16/month), so I figured I would try using that as my AP with The Magic Box. But it turns out the Magic Box also isn't smart enough to share its own WiFi connection between streaming and Android Auto. Pairing my phone over Android Auto worked fine, but whenever I returned to the streaming UI, I had to go into the settings app and manually turn WiFi back on. It works, but not at all seamlessly. At the very least, The Magic Box could be smart enough to automatically enable WiFi when switching back to it's UI. Even better would be if it could have implemented two WiFi channels (one for its AP connection, and one for Android Auto), and allowed them to remain connected concurrently.
I had hoped that the Android Auto integration was smart enough to somehow piggy-back on the peer-to-peer connection to my phone to use that as its access point to the internet, but it doesn't work that way. So it works, but switching between streaming apps and Android Auto requires quite a bit of manual reconfiguration.
Some other observations:
- The Magic Remote works fine, and makes it easy to type or select. I can see the value of this if I were using this thing as a fireTV-like device without a touchscreen. However, someone made the decision that the secondary key Fn values (e.g. all punctation/numbers) are shown as blue on black keys with no backlighting, so it's basically impossible to read if you're not in direct sunlight. I'm also surprised that the USB dongle that plugs into The Magic Box to connect to the remote sticks out quite far. I've seen BT dongles that were much smaller.
- One other annoyance: the car's steering wheel controls (skip forward/back) appear to not work when using Android Auto. This is pretty bad, and even the GiWiOS box could handle this correctly.
Edit: Sorry for the multiple postings. I've removed the dupes.
Edit 2: I ended up sending it back. There were just too many compromises given the price tag.
However, here's where the Magic kindof goes off the rails. Both Android Auto and Apple Carplay work by connecting over BT, and then opening a backchannel peer-to-peer WiFi connection between the phone and the box. But remember how earlier we had to pair the Magic box to an AP (either in-car or your phone hotspot)?- this is a different WiFi connection than that one, and neither the phone nor the Magic Box can use both concurrently.
Readers are encouraged to use their imagination to bring the forest to life, imagining the smells, sounds, and tastes of the feast. Overall, The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle is a captivating and fun-filled book that offers a unique reading experience. It encourages children to explore, problem-solve, and engage with the story in a way that is both educational and entertaining. Whether reading alone or with a parent or teacher, readers of all ages will delight in the magic of the forest and the joy of solving puzzles..
Reviews for "The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle: An Adventure in Problem Solving"
1. John - 2 stars - I was disappointed with "The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle". The pieces were poorly cut and didn't fit together properly. The puzzle board also had a weird chemical smell that was off-putting. Overall, the quality of the puzzle was not up to par, and it was frustrating to work on. I wouldn't recommend it to others.
2. Sarah - 1 star - I did not enjoy "The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle" at all. The design was not as advertised and looked pixelated when completed. The colors were also dull and it lacked the vibrant and enchanting feel that was promised. Additionally, the puzzle pieces were flimsy and easily bent. I expected better quality for the price I paid.
3. Robert - 2 stars - I found "The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle" to be quite tedious and uninteresting. The image on the puzzle was unappealing and lacked any captivating elements. The pieces were also too small, making it difficult to differentiate between similar colors and patterns. It was a frustrating experience trying to fit the pieces together, and I quickly lost interest in completing it. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this puzzle to anyone looking for an enjoyable and engaging puzzle experience.
4. Emily - 2 stars - "The Forest Feast Magic Puzzle" was a letdown for me. The quality of the puzzle pieces was subpar, with many pieces having frayed edges and being bent out of shape. The image itself was not as vibrant and detailed as I had hoped, making it less enjoyable to work on. Additionally, the puzzle board was flimsy and didn't hold up well. Overall, I was disappointed with the overall quality and experience of this puzzle.