Microsoft's BUILD 2014 conference will be starting tomorrow, and in case you missed it, the session schedule is up now. It is an interesting list of topics, and a number of them very relevant for the DirectX crowd. The session list can be found here: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014?sort=sequential&direction=desc#theSessions. The videos from each session should be posted 24-48 hours after they occur, and I think there will be live streaming of some of the sessions while they are occurring - so if you have the time, be sure to check them out!
Here are a few highlights that I saw - some are DirectX related, others are just of general interest to me:
Developing Apps Using the Common XAML UI Framework - Sounds like a subset of XAML that allows for common development across Windows and Windows Phone.
The New Windows Phone Application Model - The title says it all I suppose. There should be quite a bit of interesting WP content here.
Building Games for Windows - Sounds like an overview of all the available technologies for making games on Windows.
Direct3D 12 API Preview - This is probably the most anticipated talk for me, so hopefully we will find out more about the low level details on D3D12...
3D Printing with Windows - This sounds pretty cool, especially the part where it says you can integrate the printing into your apps. That could be really cool for game scenarios.
Windows Desktop Development Platform Advancements - Everyone is afraid of what might end up happening to the desktop, but this talk seems to indicate that features are still being added to desktop app development... For an old school developer like me, this sounds promising.
Kinect 101 - Everyone's favorite body tracker, covering version 2 of the device.
Innovations in High Performance 2D Graphics with DirectX Across Windows and Windows Phone - Sounds like a discussion on D2D performance.
Using Orleans to Build Halo 4’s Distributed Cloud Services in Azure - Cloud services are going to be bigger and bigger in game development, so hearing about examples like these sounds like an interesting topic.
DirectX Graphics Development with Visual Studio 2013 - Sounds like an overview of the VS2013 graphics tools.
Modern C++: What You Need To Know - A talk by the always entertaining and informative Herb Sutter about modern C++.
Developing Neural Networks with Visual Studio - I am generally interested in learning algorithms, so neural networks are always of interest. They also hint at a future product, so perhaps more information about a new library or product might be revealed there...
Understanding the Xbox One Game Platform Built on Windows - This sounds like a description of how Xbox One is using Windows, which could be an interesting topic.
Cutting Edge Graphics in HTML5 - Sounds like a discussion of the WebGL support in Internet Explorer. WebGL is a viable option for browser based tools now that all of the major browsers support it, so this could be interesting.
Happy watching, and if any other ones jump out at you, please feel free to add them in comments below!