“Silicon Valley” had a chance to say something important. Faced with a software intellectual property case mirroring the same core concepts as the Google v. Oracle API copyright case looming over the tech industry, the show that’s gained enough street cred for humor and realism both with coders and a general audience positioned itself for … continue reading
Only on “Silicon Valley” would an intellectual property case hinge on lawyers figuring out that when Richard is talking about his “girlfriend” in e-mails, he’s referring to his laptop. In a conveniently timed twist, Richard—who’s always maintained he never worked on Pied Piper at Hooli—realizes that for a three-day period while his “girlfriend” was in … continue reading
In last week’s episode, “Adult Content,” we saw the Pied Piper team trying to reclaim what was rightfully theirs: their algorithm that End Frame stole (even though Richard basically handed it to them.) “You are stealing it all wrong,” an upset Richard declares. Russ Hanneman struggles with the fact that he is no longer a … continue reading
Rather than pose a new business challenge or throw Pied Piper and Hooli another compression algorithm curveball, “Silicon Valley” stayed firmly planted in its midseason rut with an episode devoted to dueling PR stunts. After Hooli’s 4K HD live stream of UFC Fight Night crashed and burned in a lag-ridden mess of pixelated frozen video, … continue reading
Richard has night sweats. Bad ones. The Pied Piper CEO is a ball of frantic nervous energy, deciding on half a dozen new hires, choosing expensive new office space, dealing with an overbearing investor and developing a working beta in time for the Consumer Electronics Show in January. “Every moment there’s a new issue to … continue reading
Normally Rob Marvin reviews each episode, but as he was unable to watch this week’s, the job fell to Christina Mulligan, with help from her editor, Adam LoBelia. As neither one of us has watched the show before, please bear with us. Last night’s episode opened with Richard and Jared interviewing a series of prospective … continue reading
Richard was never going to take the Hooli buyout. There wouldn’t be a show if he had. Though to compete against Nucleus with a multi-million dollar intellectual property lawsuit hanging over its head, Pied Piper still needs a big chunk of money. Big chunks of money are everywhere for a hot startup in Silicon Valley, … continue reading
Silicon Valley can turn on you in a hurry. As the show continues to remind us from episode to episode, the modern cradle of technological innovation is a comically fickle one. Not a day after every VC firm in the valley lined up with higher and higher Series A funding offers, an intimidation lawsuit from … continue reading
Every successful tech startup begins with a great idea. The first season of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” found an unassuming software developer stumbling across his, and fighting for his vision of what it should be. The second season opens with a modern Silicon Valley phenomenon: venture capital companies lining up to give said developer piles of … continue reading
