Black Mirror is returning to our screens for a new series in June - get hyped. It has been four years since fans of the dystopian drama were last treated to a taste of the anthology TV series and 12 since it first aired in the UK so safe to say, its return has been long awaited. But since it first graced our screens in 2011, a lot has changed in the world. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Life has often imitated art and Black Mirror now seems less of a dystopia and more of a documentary. Especially in these seven instances where the show was just a bit too on the nose... 1. PM has sex with a pig In season one of the show, a kidnapper demands that the prime minister, Michael Callow, has sex with a pig on live television to secure the safe return of a British royal family member. While this certainly did not happen in real life, it sounded a bit like Piggate - a claim that surfaced in 2015 that, during his university years, former prime minister David Cameron inserted his penis into a dead pig's mouth at a party. 2. People ride bikes for tokens In another season two classic, Black Mirror writer Charlie Brooker imagines a world where people ride stationary bikes for a virtual currency used to buy essentials. Today in Paris's station Gare Du Nord, people can ride bikes to generate power to charge their phones while they wait for their trains. 3. AI versions of deceased loved ones In season two episode Be Right Back, a woman brings her dead boyfriend back to life (kind of) by getting an android version of him, which learns his speech patterns by using his social media posts and online communications Last year Amazon revealed an experimental Alexa feature that allows the app to mimic the voices of users' dead relatives. 4. Joke politicians go viral The Waldo Moment sees a satirical computer-animated bear become a politician. Now we could resort to some rubbish satire of our own and say all the politicians we have in the House of Commons are no better than cartoon bears but that would be cheap. What is the case is that joke candidates like Count Binface and other representatives from the Monster Raving Loony Party frequently outperform fringe candidates in by-elections that take place in the UK nowadays. 5. People rate their social interactions In season three, an episode called Nosedive sees people rate all of their social interactions on a five-star scale which then go on to form a person's socioeconomic status. This is quite similar to people rating each other on Uber and swiping across each other on dating apps like Hinge and Bumble if you ask us. Black Mirror | Nosedive Featurette [HD] | Netflix www.youtube.com 6. Tracking health through tablets In Arkangel, a season four episode, Marie implants her three-year-old daughter with an Arkangel system which monitors her health, vision and hearing via a tablet computer. It is not too dissimilar to the rise of Apple Watches and FitBits which people use to obsess over their resting heart rate, sleep score and step count. 7. The rise of dating apps In Hang the DJ, people use an electronic device called "Coach" which chooses their partners and the duration of their relationship. Nowadays there is always a new dating app every other week promising to find people love and happiness in different ways. So it is safe to say Black Mirror really had its finger on the pulse when envisioning a not-too-distant future. We can't wait to see what phenomena the next few episodes will predict. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

FIFA 23 Premier League TOTS Upgrade SBC is now live requiring two segments. Here's how to complete the SBC containing a guaranteed PL TOTS player.

Mistral AI, a new startup from former DeepMind and Meta Platforms Inc. researchers, has raised €105 million ($113

SAVE 49%: Access extra Netflix movies and shows with ExpressVPN. A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023--

Google has scrapped its latest augmented reality (AR) headset that was meant to rival headsets from Apple and Meta, according to reports. The search giant’s ‘Project Iris’ was abandoned earlier this year, Insider reported, making it the second major set of smart glasses to be ditched following Google Glass. The latest AR glasses were first teased last year at Google I/O, with a video showing wearers using the device to translate conversations in real-time. “What we’re working on is technology that enables us to break down language barriers,” Max Spear, a product manager at Google, said in the video. “Making access to information just instant and intuitive, and by doing that technology fades into the background.” Since the glasses were teased, Apple has unveiled its Vision Pro headset and Meta has shown off its latest Quest 3 goggles, which will be available later this year. Google’s aborted project comes eight years after the firm discontinued its Glass smart glasses for consumers, and just months after it stopped producing the enterprise version. It follows the departure of Clay Bavor, Google’s chief of augmented and virtual reality, with the company’s focus now switching to AR software rather than hardware. One AR software platform is Android XR, which is being built for a headset under development at Samsung. A Micro XR platform is also rumoured to be in the works, which is expected to run on AR smart glasses rather than larger mixed reality goggles. One unnamed employee told Insider that Google was aiming to created the “Android for AR”, referring to the tech giant’s hugely popular mobile operating system. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment. Samsung announced at its Galaxy Unpacked event in February that it had partnered with Google and Qualcomm to make a mixed reality platform. No details were given about what the product might look like, with the company saying more information would be given later this year. “We are working to create a new era of highly immersive digital experiences that blur the line between our physical and digital worlds,” said Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon. “With our Snapdragon XR tech, Samsung’s amazing products, and Google experiences, we have the foundation to make this opportunity a reality.” Read More ‘I saw the future. It left me in tears’ Apple releases urgent update to iPhone and iPad users Apple starts letting developers make apps for its upcoming headset The Apple Watch is getting some major changes this year – here’s why

Pentwater Capital Management LP led hedge funds boosting stakes in Activision Blizzard Inc. last quarter before a make-or-break

Keep up with all the results of Call of Duty League Champs here to see which of the eight best CDL teams become 2023 Modern Warfare 2 World Champions.

Meta could soon launch a web version of Threads, as users grow frustrated with the lack of features on the platform. Threads was launched early in July, and quickly became the fastest growing app ever. It appeared to have been launched early to capitalise on the problems that have engulfed Twitter since Elon Musk bought it and renamed it X, and quickly gathered users as a result. That speed of launch does however appear to have left the app without a variety of basic features. In the weeks since, the company has been rushing to add new ways of using the app that have been missing since its launch. In recent days, for example, Threads has added the option to share threads posts on Instagram DMs, see a list of liked posts, and sort the accounts that are being followed. But it is still lacking perhaps the most basic feature of any social network: the ability to use it outside of an app. While many rival networks such as Twitter began as web versions, Threads still does not have a version that can be used on desktop computers or outside of the app. In a recent post, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said the company is “working on it”. “We’ve been using an early version internally for a week or two,” he wrote on Threads. “Still needs some work before we can open it up to everyone though…” Mark Zuckerberg also said two weeks ago that the company was looking to build a “vibrant long term app” and that it had “lots of work ahead”. That includes the addition of “search and web”, which he said would arrive “in the next few weeks”. Now the Wall Street Journal has reported that the web version of the app could come as early as this week. But it noted that the “launch plans aren’t final and could change”. Threads does offer some features on the web. Users can click on links to Threads and see individual posts and replies, for instance, but there is no way to get back to a feed of accounts that a user is following. Instagram has always been relatively resistant to adding new platforms to its social network. The main Instagram app has only a relatively scaled-down version as its web offering, and it still does not offer a version of its app for iPad. Read More Mark Zuckerberg hits out at Elon Musk for wasting time over cage fight Japanese scientists hoping for a message from alien life imminently iPhone 15 could bring two major changes to fix battery life

Bitcoin fell below $27,000 for the first time in more than two weeks, erasing an earlier gain posted

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023--