Isle of Tune – Create a world of music using streets, cars, trees and houses in this whimsical interactive game. As creators of Isle of Tune explain, “create musical journeys from street layouts. Roadside elements are your instruments and cars are the players. Share your island for others to play and vote on!”

I recommend starting out with the demo island to get the basics first. Here’s an image of my demo Isle of Tune.

Late Night – Experience music videos like never before with this exciting Late Night gem by Doritos. Although Rihanna is the most prominent star here, her video is not the only one worth exploring. Be sure to watch the others offered here, of bands from London, Sao Paulo, Brazil and other locations – you won’t be disappointed. The first screen shot is of the Late Night home screen, the second of the lovely 360 degree video by a cute Brazilian band. Simply play the video, click your mouse on any point on the screen and drag it to any direction. This way you will grasp the concept of an all-angle music video.

Metacritic – This Entertainment hub by CBS Interactive is here to help you find “stuff you’ll love” by offering you the top rated finds in games, music, movies and TV. Top rated means the entertainment items that scored the highest by Metacritic’s well, critics… You, the user, are invited to give your own score to each entry Metacritic offers you, and this helps other users to get a good idea about the quality and rank of any given item.

For my test run I searched for a prospect present I’m considering buying for my boyfirend: the new Call of Duty game (Black Ops) for PS3. Metacritic beautifully lays out before me all the information I could possible want to know about this game including its ratings by both critics (‘Metascore’ they call it) and users, and a link to the game’s official website. Here’s a screen shot of the page for Call of Duty: Black Ops:

My final words on Metacritic? Great entertainment recommendation site that truly offers filtered, high quality games, music, movies and TV shows suggestions.

Mixcloud – Finding and listening to free music online is a piece of cake, thanks to the various web radio services out there. Even video giant YouTube can be swayed to serve as an online playlist (although it has its drawbacks -continuous play is possible only via the queue). But think about how cool it would be if one place were to combine excellent filtered music -numerous genres- with educational, comedy, politics and other podcasts? Well, Mixcloud is here and it ‘cloudcasts’ all of the above.

The audio on Mixlcoud streams in super high quality, and the social aspect of the site lets you follow favorite DJs and podcasts. Oh, and it’s FREE! Need I say more? This is one of my favorite sites this month.

To learn more about what is Mixcloud and how it works, check out their About video. I also recommend tuning in to my current favorite playlist on Mixlcoud, United World Radio – Show #18 – Summer Grooves. Enjoy.

Motherboard.tv –  Keeping track of technological advances is rather easy; quick headline-skimming on TechCrunch, Wired or any major newspaper these days will do that. But one aspect of technology that is often difficult to track and explore is tech’s cultural dimension. Dell’s Motherboard offers just that, in the most professional, engaging and alluring way possible.

According to their About page, Motherboard is “an online video network and community focused on the exploration of the nature and culture of technology, as viewed through the lenses of curated editorial content, community, and dialogue.” Tap into original content videos covering a plethora of topics including film + video, music, art + design, gaming, environment + the body, and ‘wonderful.’

Among seemingly infinite informative delights, you will find all the hottest topics buzzing around the Web right now, such as the Gap logo conundrum, or check this video showing the solution to the mysterious bee shortage in the US. Each video is accompanied by superb textual content, which makes any session on Motherboard a most enjoyable didactic experience.

YouTube Instant – If you like losing control every now and then, or if you like to let someone else take the Wheel for you, YouTube Instant is for you. As you may know, Google  recently came out with the instant search feature. This sparked computer science student Feross Aboukhadijeh from Stanford University, CA to create a YouTube-based site built on the ‘instant’ concept of Google’s.

Finding videos on YouTube Instant is easy. Simply type in the name of the artist, song or any other key word, and the site will automatically start playing the first (and probably the highest rated/most viewed related) video. I feel this instant project is a bit too aggressive, as it leaves very little to no control over the selected videos in the hands of the user. To give an example, see what happens when you type in just one letter in the search box (I typed in ‘J’ – see screen shot below). In addition, the number of related videos on the right seems too limited in my opinion.

Although the design aims for a light and informal look and feel, it’s a nice try, nothing more. I’m a bit annoyed by the thought I don’t really have much say over the videos someone else is selecting for me. Since I’d like to remain in control in terms of the content I consume, I’ll continue exploring videos on the good old formal YouTube.com, and on the All My Faves Video page, thank you very much. On the other hand, I realize I am a bit conservative in my views; try YouTube Instant for yourself and see if you enjoy it more than I did.

Unhear it – I remember this one time in the very last week of my senior year in high school, I was in the middle of my final exam in history, and as I was trying to formulate an answer to one of the questions on the exam, I couldn’t help but repeating the same song in my head: Boney M’s cover of Rivers of Babylon. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a cool song and the 1970s wouldn’t have been complete without it. But being unable to get rid of this tune in such a crucial moment as that of a final exam, well, you get my drift.

The point of this personal anecdote is to bring Unhear it to your attention, a cool site that offers what I so direly needed that day in high school: a get-rid-of-that-song-in-your-head solution. How do they do it? Well, they make users “‘unhear’ songs by hearing equally catchy songs.” The idea is a great one, although you end up with a new catchy song that might be the new god-damn song in your head you’ll wish you had gotten rid of…

LipDub.in – The site’s name pretty much sums its concept, but in case you need a more detailed description, here it is: “LipDub.in combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. It is made by filming individuals or a group of people lip synching while listening to a song or any recorded audio then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song.”

To see an example of what users do on LipDub.in, see the two videos below; the first from Poland, Lip -dubbing Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough; the second from the UK, doing Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl.

Shuffler – Another music search and discovery is on the scene; shuffler. Working with the tumblr platform, shuffler.fm lets you browse through various music blogs in order to find and discover great music to your ears, literally.

How does it work? Simply click the desired music genre on the shuffler homepage and embark on a pleasant audio journey. Shuffler is easy to use and it covers the major music genres out there (would have loved to see Blues here though). The screen shot below shows what shuffler looks like while in-between music blogs of Electronic music. Enjoy!

For more  exciting music blogs and sites I recommend stopping by our Music Mini page.

8tracks – Playlists galore, this not-so-new web radio site has slowly and rather stealthy grew to capture many users’ and our attention. Completely free and easy to use, 8tracks invites users to create playlists listing at least eight tracks, share these with others and follow other users’ profiles and tastes. According to their About page, 8tracks “offers a simple way for people to share and discover music through an online mix, a short playlist…”

Even if you’re not dead set on creating your own playlist, I encourage you to sign up and try it nonetheless. The music quality is superb, and you can filter your search by clicking one of the various genre buttons on the homepage. In addition, you can simply sit back and enjoy other users’ playlists. That’s how I came across the blues playlist of eight tracks, all dedicated to the best drink that goes along with blues: whiskey.

Online ConVert – I just love it when a website offers a useful service for free, without any background noise. That’s the case with Online ConVert, a ridiculously simple conversion site for practically any type of media file you can think of.

Use Online ConVert to handle all your audio, video, image, document, eBook and hash files and transform them to the file type you’re looking for in your desired category. Oh, and the best part? No download is required. Period. That’s just wonderful.

Yes Yes Y’all – A music and artists center here to help others on their way to music creation, Yes Yes Y’all is a beautiful website with this declared aim: “to promote and push the artist first and foremost. We want to help support them and you in the best way possible and if anything try to help artists and listeners in these times of change.”

Superbly designed and unique in character, Yes Yes Y’all is all about bringing up the good in music creativity and helping artists on their way to making their mark. Explore the site’s Radio section (it’s amazing), the blog, and Channel Y. If you’re in the field, help yourself and submit your music. Cruise among big name artists such as Kayne West, Bon Iver, Pariah and many other talented creators. Great concept, excellent music, design and user participation? Yes Yes Y’all!