This document summarizes hot topics from Microsoft Research, including distributed computing across multicore systems, natural user interfaces, understanding human motion through computer vision, machine learning from large datasets, and using machine learning to improve ad relevance. It discusses challenges like coordinating work across multiple CPU cores and distributing operating system state. It also highlights several Microsoft Research projects applying these areas like Barrelfish, a new operating system architecture, and work using probabilistic models and joint modeling to understand images and human motion.