The Doritos brand and Microsoft today unveiled the much-anticipated, fully playable Xbox LIVE® Arcade game versions for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft of ‘Avatar Crash Course’ created by Jill Robertson of Raleigh, N.C., and ‘Harm’s Way’ created by Justin Carpenter of Ogden, Utah—the two finalists in the Doritos ‘Unlock Xbox’ challenge.

Microsoft Corp. joined its partners to reveal nine new Windows Phone 7 handsets that will be available this holiday season from leading mobile operators in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. With more than 60 mobile operators including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, O2, Orange, Telstra, T-Mobile USA and Vodafone in over 30 countries worldwide committed to bringing Windows Phones to market, the millions of people around the world looking for a phone that plays as hard as it works will have a variety of phones from leading device-makers to choose from.

With the school season already kicked off, Microsoft’s Bing web search engine launched an educational website, REDU, aimed at empowering teachers and everybody concerned with the issue to have a national conversation around education reform. They are encouraged to connect, communicate through initiatives and, being inspired by others’ examples, improve this sphere with concrete actions, ranging from planting a learning garden to taking up a volunteer job.

Coca-Cola, IBM, Microsoft and Google lead Interbrand‘s 11th annual ranking of the «Best Global Brands.»  Google (#4) sees a 36% increase in value over last year, bringing the brand closer than ever to rival Microsoft (#3). HP (#10) enters the top 10 for the first time, having increased brand value under a new business model and brand platform. For the 11th year straight, Coca-Cola (#1) retains its top spot as the number one ranked brand on the list.