Microsoft’s annual developer conference, Build 2018, is finally upon us. The keynote speech, delivered by CEO Satya Nadella, was yesterday, and day two is nearly upon us. The next opening keynote for day two starts at 8:30 a.m. PT today, Tuesday May 8. Here’s how you can catch it remotely.
Microsoft will be livestreaming a number of its sessions, including its day two keynote, which you can watch here — or via the embed below.
Yesterday’s keynote didn’t include any bombshell announcements, with most of the conversation surrounding Microsoft’s cloud platforms Azure and Microsoft 365. Great help for developers, but not the most interesting for the average person. However, today, we’re expecting more announcements surrounding consumer-focused platforms like Office and Windows — fingers crossed.
While we don’t know exactly what the keynote will cover, we do have some idea of what you’ll be able to catch at this year’s Microsoft Build conference. The sessions, which you’ll be able to watch online, cover a wide array of topics ranging from a basic explainer of blockchain technologies to more exotic fare. Bottom line, expect less Windows, more cloud.
“Learn how blockchains work, including how they use hashes, transactions, blocks, and proof-of-work consensus algorithms to build distributed ledgers,” the agenda states.
Microsoft is also emphasizing its Internet of Things products and development services at this year’s build, with a number of sessions featuring an intense focus on smart home devices, their development, and their applications.
“Microsoft offers a comprehensive set of platforms, cloud services, and solutions for building Internet of Things applications,” Microsoft states. “In this session, you’ll learn what’s available today, what’s coming soon, and what Microsoft’s vision is for the IoT of tomorrow.”
We’ll probably see a few interesting other developments out of this year’s Build conference. Last year, Microsoft promised to deliver not one but two feature updates for Windows 10 every year. This year’s Build will likely tease some of the features coming later this year.
There’s also some speculation that we might get some surprise announcements and see a sneak peek at Microsoft’s secretive “Andromeda” device. However, we aren’t holding our breath given the fairly low-key nature of yesterday’s announcements.
Speech-to-text apps have flooded the App Store, making it easier than ever to type on our Macs with just our voice. I have previously covered one such app called TypeWhisper. However, there has been a dearth of good text-to-speech models, and most of the good ones are locked behind a subscription.
Ollama, an open-source app that lets you run local AI models on your computer, wants to change that. It works on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and your prompts are never stored or used for training.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).