Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Microsoft Surface team takes a hit as chief Brian Hall joins Doppler Labs

By

microsoft devices corporate vp brian hall leaves for doppler labs press leadership group
Doppler Labs
One of Microsoft’s most surprising recent successes has been its Surface line of PC hardware. The Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, and Surface Studio are currently the halo devices for their respective categories, and those — the Windows 10 detachable-keyboard tablet, notebook-centric 2-in-1, and creative desktop all-in-one — are indeed categories that Surface itself created.

Central to the effort to grow Surface into such a recognizable and arguably dominant brand was Brian Hall, the corporate vice president of Microsoft devices, who led the Surface Lumia, HoloLens, accessories, and other hardware businesses. The Surface line, therefore, received a serious blow on Tuesday when Hall announced his departure from Microsoft to join Doppler Labs on that company’s blog.

Recommended Videos

Hall will serve as Doppler Labs Chief Operating Office, where he will oversee the operations of a company that is focused on providing a high-end line of completely wireless Bluetooth headphones, the Here One. He is joining the company just in time, as well, given that the Here One is set to launch on February 21.

Hall is clearly proud of his time at Microsoft: “I’m joining Doppler Labs by way of Microsoft, where I spent more than 20 years, and most recently, ran the Surface and Devices businesses including Surface Hub and HoloLens. I also worked in engineering and marketing across Windows, online services, and hardware. Surface was a particularly great ride and was my focus for the last several years. When I joined the Surface team, Apple was the de facto dominating force, but by the time I left, Surface was one of the fastest-growing major tech products that was giving Apple a run for its money.”

Hall intends to duplicate his former company’s success in creating high-quality products that compete with the likes of Apple and that define new categories of products aimed at helping people get things done. The focus is a little different, but the objective is the same, Hall writes:

“As COO at Doppler, I want to help lead the charge to do the same thing for Here One. I joined Doppler because of the team’s mission to give everyone superhuman hearing, letting people hear exactly what they want to hear and remove what they don’t. But I was equally impressed when I experienced Here One.”

Microsoft has some important Surface updates coming up, with new Surface Book and Surface Pro iterations expected sometime in 2017.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Coppock
Mark Coppock
Computing Writer
Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…
Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain
Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

 
What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Read more
I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close
Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Read more
How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams
Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.

Read more