Townscaper
Some games are a game (there is a goal, you win, etc.), and some games are toys (no plot, no goal, but fun). Townscaper is a toy: you build buildings, islands, bridges, cathedrals, castles, apartment complexes — whatever strikes your fancy.
You can play Townscaper on the web for free. Just point your browser at the website,
https://www.townscapergame.com
and start clicking around. Fun. Addictive. It is also one of the few video games I can play just as well as my seven-year-old grandchild. For almost everything else, she reigns supreme.
The web version requires an Internet connection, but there is a version for the iPad that works without access to the Internet, perfect for keeping your brain alive in a clinic waiting room or waiting for a significant other to do whatever it is that they want to do and you don’t. The iPad version costs something like $4.95 (it costs a developer money to put something on the Apple store, and the trivial cost reimburses them for the effort), but if you like the web version and have an iPad, it is a modest purchase.
Townscaper on iPad:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/townscaper/id1549531491
Townscaper has its own Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townscaper
The developer also has a more limited, but somewhat richer game that is web-only, Brick Block,
https://oskarstalberg.com/game/house/index.html
Books
On a more serious front, Take Control Books has updates to titles of interest. Take Control of Untangling Connections, 3rd edition, covers USB, Thunderbolt, HDMI, Displayport, Ethernet, and audio connections, cables, compatibilities, and other things. If you have a tangle of cables around your computer, this book will tell you what the cables do, how to use them, why they are not interchangeable, which ones you can do without, etc.
Take Control of Apple Media Apps covers Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, Apple Books, and the various complexities of consuming books, music, audio, and video on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. As someone who has a couple thousand books in Apple Books and over a thousand albums in Apple Music, take my word for it: you can organize things and make life easier.
Keep Safe Using Mobile Tech is a new book aimed at a growing problem: keeping your private information safe on your iPhone, iPad, laptop, etc. You have a wealth of health information on your Apple Watch and iPhone, a wealth of private information on almost every Apple device, and a vast trove of financial information spread across apps, passwords, and documents on all your devices. Knowing how to maintain access, how to keep your information secure, and how to prevent accidentally sharing what you don’t want to share — these are not simple tasks. But they also are not beyond your abilities, if you know how, and this book aims to teach you how to take control.
Take Control Books has also released updates to Take Control of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, as well as Take Control of Sequoia. As these are updates, not new editions, you can download a free update quickly through their website. The update, among other things, talks about new capabilities via Apple Intelligence and some feature updates to various applications.
Remember that SMUG members can get a 30% discount on Take Control books by using the discount code published on our website: https://strait-mac.org/discussion-topics/take-control-books-discount-for-smug-members/
As always thank you Lawrence