Code Conference

Six key takeaways from the Code Conference

Re/code's peek into the future

The first night of the inaugural Code Conference was packed with new information, jokes, asides, idle speculation and tough questioning. Some key takeaways:

1) Despite being a co-founder of one of the greatest collectors of personal information on Earth, Google's Sergey Brin said the NSA's spying revelations were a "huge disappointment."

"I think that privacy is the expectation that secret things stay secret," he said during an on-stage question and answer session with Re/code co-executive editors Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, the two founders of the technology news and analysis website. "Private messages stay private."

Rancho Palos Verdes

2) Google Glass actually makes you LESS awkward. Brin contended that the device makes people more present because they aren't fumbling while looking down at their phone all the time. And they have their hands free.

"It's very much about getting benefits from technology when you want it and not crowding your world with more management," he said.

3) Self-driving cars will be a reality in a few short years, if Google has its way.


4) Microsoft is tackling Google Translate by building its own translation software that it plans to launch by the end of the year. CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft plans to build the technology into all of its devices.

Nadella said that the technology currently handles 40 languages, but it's unlikely the product will launch with all of them. The company demonstrated the new technology using Skype showing how two colleagues who speak different languages can communicate seamlessly using the software.

Read MoreMicrosoft shows off universal translating software

Future of Google's driverless car

5) The new leader of the behemoth from Redmond, Washington, was apparently lukewarm, or worse, about buying Nokia—which of course happened prior to his taking over.

Swisher asked: "Were you in favor of the Nokia deal when it was first struck?"

Nadella: "I'm not going to answer that."

Read MoreNadella talks 'post-post-PC world'

Microsoft's new direction

6) Despite the fact that Microsoft's cloud success has come primarily from the enterprise level, the company sees part of its cloud growth coming from start-ups.

"We have to do more work with start-ups. I think that is the place we have to break through," he said.

The company wants Azure to be an open cloud platform in an effort to get more start-ups to use it.

The Code Conference is taking place in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Disclosure: NBC News group is a minority stakeholder in Re/code and has a content sharing partnership with it.