With the broad availability of inexpensive embedded intelligence and the emergence of new natural user interfaces, coupled with a range of wired and wireless communication technologies and massive cloud data centers and services, computers can begin to work on our behalf, launching speculative activities based upon context and user behavior, anticipating our needs and delivering a new generation of experiences. Microsoft Research, arguably the largest pure computer science research facility in the world, exists to contemplate and invent the future and is actively engaged in all of these areas to drive these technologies into the mainstream. Dr. Dan Reed, Corporate Vice President, eXtreme Computing Group and Technology Strategy & Policy, Microsoft Corp. will discuss these technology trends and the opportunities and challenges that they present from business, technical, social and policy perspectives.