Apple's share price is continuing to ride the tariff rollercoaster, with it finishing strong on Friday after a week of turmoil.Apple shares did well on Friday after a rough weekThis week has been a tough one for Apple investors, due to the continued alterations to how the United States applies tariffs against imports from other countries. The stock market doesn't do well with uncertainty, and the various changes dictated by President Trump certainly introduced some.After Thursday's return to a slump, Apple ended that day on $190.42, with pre-market movements resulting in Apple opening at $186.10. While the stock did go down a little to $186.06 early on, it rapidly climbed and reached a high of $199.54 during the day, and ended the session at $198.15. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The recipients of this year’s RAIC Gold Medal are the KPMB Architects co-founders Marianne McKenna and Shirley Blumberg. Their rare dual recognition by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) comes after 37 years in practice in Toronto alongside Bruce Kuwabara, who said: “They have each shaped the trajectory of our practice and profoundly influenced the architectural landscape in Canada and beyond.”"Together, Marianne McKenna and Shirley Blumberg represent the pinnacle of architectural practice in Canada. Their unwavering dedication to innovative design, community engagement, and social equity not only enriches the profession but also serves as a source of inspiration for countless architects and designers," architect Omar Gandhi said in their official RAIC announcement.

While Nintendo has been facing quite a bit of criticism over its pricing of the Switch 2 as well as its first-party games, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden believes that the company can ultimately get away with it. In an interview with PlayerDriven, Layden mentioned how the quality of Nintendo’s first-party titles allows the company to take bigger risks, like increased prices for its games. In the interview, which you can check out below, Layden spoke about the pricing differences between the Switch and the Switch 2 not only for the consoles themselves, but also for their games. He also brought up the $80 price tag for launch title Mario Kart World. “But right here you see, ‘wow, that’s kind of a hefty price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 and, wow, 80 bucks for a game?’” Layden said (transcription via IGN). “But if it’s the only place where you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it… and Donkey Kong and Zelda. That first-party exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock, if you will, of these price hikes, because you want that content so bad.” Layden also spoke about how inflation has generally not quite affected the price of games over time. For context, games have held on to their steady price tags for quite some time. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 back in 2009 was one of the first AAA releases to jump up in price from $50 to $60 at the time, for example. Layden brings up how, in terms of inflation, $59.99 from 1999 would be the equivalent to $100 today. He also points out that, if games were to increase their price to keep pace with inflation trends, by getting $5 more expensive with each console generation, for example, they would be priced at $90 today. “In 2025 dollars, $59.99 in 1999 is equivalent to $100,” he said. “Your purchasing power compared to your cost of living, it’s much smaller now than it was before, but still companies have been reluctant to push that price up.” “I was in it at the time — probably every generation they should have baked in a $5 software price hike, and make that the typical, ‘well every generation it’s another five bucks.’ And you would have been up to $90 already by now.” Nintendo of America vice president of Product and Player Experience Bill Trinen has also spoken about the company’s pricing strategy. In another interview, Trinen spoke about how the company believes that Mario Kart World‘s quality justifies its steep $80 price tag. “I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” said Trinen. “Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what, maybe you’ll be able to find out about that.” “But honestly, this is a game that is so big and so vast and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there’s still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they’re going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they’ve ever had.” The Nintendo Switch 2 is slated to launch on June 5. While priced at $449.99, it is currently unknown if tariffs by the United States will cause its price tag to climb higher.

Live from TED2025 The TED Theater at TED2025, in photos Posted by: TED Staff April 11, 2025 at 3:30 pm EDT For one remarkable week each year, the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC, Canada transforms into the TED Theater: a custom-built, 1,200-seat space that hosts bold ideas designed to spark conversation, deepen our collective understanding and ignite meaningful change. In a world where so many familiar roles are ripe for re-invention, TED2025 poses the urgent question: “What are humans for?” — and challenges us to harness our full creativity, imagination and curiosity to envision a future we can genuinely look forward to. Below, find a sampling of the stunning photography from TED2025. And check out our live coverage of the conference and keep an eye out for new TED Talks from TED2025. TED2025 Photo Team: Felicia Chang, Ella De Gea Truelove, Jason Redmond, Callie Shields, Gilberto Tadday, Jasmina Tomic and Elizabeth Zeeuw Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) Setting up the TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Jasmina Tomic / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED) The TED Theater at TED 2025: Humanity Reimagined, April 7-11, 2025, Vancouver, BC. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

See the Titanic in Remarkable Detail With a 3D Scan That Reveals New Secrets of the Doomed Ship’s Final Moments A documentary called “Titanic: The Digital Resurrection” will unveil the most detailed digital reconstruction of the shipwreck ever created. Experts are using the model to study the vessel’s demise The bow of the Titanic Atlantic Productions / Magellan A few years ago, researchers sent robots to the wreck of the RMS Titanic, which is located 12,500 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Using underwater scanning technology, the deep-sea investigation company Magellan spent three weeks collecting 16 terabytes of data, including 715,000 photos and 4K video footage. The team used these images to assemble the most detailed digital reconstruction of the shipwreck to date. Filmmakers followed the Magellan crew as they surveyed the doomed ship—and now, a documentary by National Geographic and Atlantic Productions is detailing the Titanic’s final moments. The film will unveil the digital model, which captures the ship “down to the rivet,” according to a statement. Using Magellan’s detailed 3D scan, as well as input from historians and maritime experts, Titanic: The Digital Resurrection brings the ship’s final hours to life. It premieres on National Geographic on April 11 and will be available for streaming the following day on Hulu and Disney+. After hitting an iceberg, the ship split violently into two pieces. Atlantic Productions / Magellan The Titanic departed from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912. But four days later, about 400 miles off the coast of Canada, the ship struck an iceberg, broke in half and sank. More than 1,500 people died, and about 700 were rescued. The reconstruction has helped confirm some key details about the Titanic’s demise. After digitally reassembling pieces of the ship’s hull, researchers determined that the vessel didn’t split cleanly in half. Instead, it was “violently torn” into two pieces, ripping apart first-class cabins, per the statement. “We actually now find out from these simulations that the time it took for the Titanic to collide with the iceberg was 6.3 seconds,” Simon Benson, a naval architect at the University of Newcastle, tells David Muir of ABC’s “World News Tonight.” Titanic: The Digital Resurrection | Official Trailer | National Geographic Watch on They also found that one of the boat’s steam valves was left open, which supports eyewitness accounts that the engineers remained in the boiler room for more than two hours after the ship hit the iceberg—nearly until the end. These 35 men kept the electricity running, allowing the ship to send out distress signals, which may have ultimately saved hundreds of lives. “They kept the lights and the power working to the end, to give the crew time to launch the lifeboats safely with some light instead of in absolute darkness,” Parks Stephenson, a Titanic analyst, tells BBC News’ Rebecca Morelle and Alison Francis. Additionally, the digital scan has complicated a controversial narrative about a first officer on the Titanic: William Murdoch, who has long been accused of abandoning his post. In James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster, Murdoch’s character shoots at passengers before shooting himself. But according to the new documentary, the high-resolution scans corroborate the account of Titanic survivor Charles Lightoller, who said Murdoch was swept out to sea while preparing to launch a lifeboat. The Titanic's stern engines Atlantic Productions / Magellan Researchers also mapped 15 square miles of the ocean floor surrounding the sunken ship, which is scattered with the personal effects of passengers—purses, gold coins, pocket watches, combs and shoes. In the documentary, Yasmin Khan, a historian at the University of Oxford, connects some of these artifacts to their owners. After more than a century at the bottom of the North Atlantic, the Titanic has deteriorated. But even as its condition worsens, the detailed digital reconstruction will allow researchers to continue examining it indefinitely. As experts tell “World News Tonight,” “The level of detail we’ve achieved allows us to examine the wreckage as if we were walking through the ship itself.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

It achieved an 8.0% higher win rate over DeepSeek R1, suggesting that its strengths generalize beyond just logic or math-heavy challenges.Read More

YouTube is giving creators a new AI tool that can generate instrumental tracks to use in videos for free without worrying about copyright claims, TechCrunch reports. The new feature was demonstrated in a video posted on the company’s Creator Insider channel this week. In the video, the host, Lauren, shows a new tab in the Creator Music beta section on YouTube called “Music assistant” where you can enter a prompt like “give me uplifting and motivational music for a workout montage.” The tool then generates several tracks you can review and download so you can add them to your video editor. Lauren says it’s gradually rolling Music assistant out for users who have access to Creator Music. Music assistant is one of several AI music-generating tools out there. Companies like Stability AI have a diffusion model that can make background audio for projects, and Meta’s open-source AudioCraft and MusicGen models can synthesize sounds and media using prompts, too. YouTube has also experimented with AI music in other ways. It built a music remixer that lets you “restyle” popular songs to add to your Shorts. And its Dream Track feature, powered by Lyria from Google’s DeepMind, lets you hum songs and turn them into music tracks in the style of participating artists like T-Pain.

Despite significant progress in code generation and completion, AI coding tools continue to face challenges in debugging—an integral part of software development. While large language models (LLMs) can generate code snippets and occasionally offer fixes, they often falter when addressing runtime errors or navigating through logical faults using traditional debugging tools. Human developers routinely rely on interactive debuggers like Python’s pdb to inspect variables, trace execution, and understand program flow. These tools facilitate exploratory reasoning—a dimension largely absent from the capabilities of current LLMs. This gap highlights a fundamental limitation: most LLMs operate in static environments with limited support for dynamic feedback, making it difficult to engage in the iterative reasoning required for effective debugging. To explore the extent to which LLMs can make use of interactive debugging tools such as pdb, Microsoft has introduced Debug-Gym—a Python-based environment designed to evaluate how AI agents perform in realistic code-repair tasks. Debug-Gym provides a structured setting where LLM-based agents can employ debugging commands, examine runtime behavior, and refine their approach through active exploration. Rather than simply predicting corrections, agents in Debug-Gym can interact with their environment to gather evidence before proposing solutions. This model of active, tool-assisted debugging more closely mirrors the human approach to software repair and allows for the assessment of reasoning strategies in complex scenarios. Technical Architecture and Features Debug-Gym is built to support experimentation with interactive, tool-aware coding agents. It presents agents with error-prone Python programs and grants access to debugging tools via a controlled interface. Core components of the system include: Buggy program scenarios: A curated set of Python scripts with known faults, spanning syntax, runtime, and logical errors. Debugger access: A tool interface exposing commands akin to those used in Python’s pdb, including stack inspection, step-through execution, and variable evaluation. Observation and action spaces: Structured inputs such as traceback data and variable values are provided to the agent, which can then respond with commands or code edits. The architecture supports deterministic execution and is modular, enabling easy substitution or augmentation of agents and debugging tools. The environment is publicly available under an open-source license, encouraging collaboration and comparative evaluation. Evaluation and Observations Initial experiments using Debug-Gym suggest that agents capable of leveraging interactive tools are better equipped to resolve complex bugs. According to Microsoft’s evaluation, LLMs that issued and interpreted debugging commands—such as variable prints or navigation through stack frames—demonstrated more accurate and efficient code repairs compared to static counterparts. In a benchmark consisting of 150 diverse bug cases, interactive agents achieved a notably higher success rate, resolving over half the problems with fewer iterations. The framework also provides visibility into agent behavior. Researchers can analyze tool usage patterns, investigate where agents deviate from productive debugging strategies, and identify common failure points. This level of introspection supports iterative development of agent policies and opens pathways for fine-tuning models using richer feedback than text alone. Furthermore, Debug-Gym supports training paradigms such as reinforcement learning from interaction histories, allowing future models to learn not just from human demonstrations, but also from the structured sequences of debugging actions. Conclusion Debug-Gym offers a practical and forward-looking approach to advancing LLM-based coding tools. By incorporating support for interactive debugging, it aligns more closely with real-world developer workflows. The environment enables precise measurement of agent capabilities in dynamic code repair and provides the scaffolding needed to train and evaluate agents that learn from exploration. While current systems still face limitations in understanding nuanced runtime contexts, Debug-Gym lays the groundwork for developing agents that can systematically reason through bugs using external tools. This shift from passive code suggestion to active problem-solving represents a meaningful step toward integrating LLMs into professional software development environments. Check out Twitter and don’t forget to join our 85k+ ML SubReddit. Asif RazzaqWebsite |  + postsBioAsif Razzaq is the CEO of Marktechpost Media Inc.. As a visionary entrepreneur and engineer, Asif is committed to harnessing the potential of Artificial Intelligence for social good. His most recent endeavor is the launch of an Artificial Intelligence Media Platform, Marktechpost, which stands out for its in-depth coverage of machine learning and deep learning news that is both technically sound and easily understandable by a wide audience. The platform boasts of over 2 million monthly views, illustrating its popularity among audiences.Asif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Nvidia Released Llama-3.1-Nemotron-Ultra-253B-v1: A State-of-the-Art AI Model Balancing Massive Scale, Reasoning Power, and Efficient Deployment for Enterprise InnovationAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Together AI Released DeepCoder-14B-Preview: A Fully Open-Source Code Reasoning Model That Rivals o3-Mini With Just 14B ParametersAsif Razzaqhttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/6flvq/Boson AI Introduces Higgs Audio Understanding and Higgs Audio Generation: An Advanced AI Solution with Real-Time Audio Reasoning and Expressive Speech Synthesis for Enterprise Applications

Your Friends & Neighbors begins with a tight shot of Jon Hamm slowly returning to consciousness in the middle of a million-dollar foyer, where he mysteriously lies in a large puddle of a dead man’s blood. Terrified and confused – and after a failed attempt to clean up the mess, likely out of panic – he tries to flee the scene only to trip and fall into the pool, where he ponders just how things took such a dire turn. If your instinct is to process this image as a metaphor, don’t worry – the former Mad Men star himself validates that assumption directly in a voiceover promising an unlikely story of a charmed life gone awry. It’s a sequence of events clearly designed to shock and seduce us. Instead, it plays like a scene you hazily remember seeing a few dozen times before, but can’t pinpoint exactly where.By the end of the series opener, it’s clear that Apple TV+’s newest high-end drama wants to offer a tale that both titillates and shirks convention. After all, it’s not every day that you see a well-off man really question the affluence he’s spent his whole life chasing, nor do we plebeians often get a less-than-glossy glimpse into the lives of the One Percent. But beyond a handful of solid performances and some lo-fi larceny sprinkled throughout the seven episodes made available for review, Your Friends & Neighbors reads more like a concept that took all the wrong lessons from Robin Hood and Breaking Bad and leans perhaps too heavily on the assumption that the predictably messy lives of the rich are inherently must-watch. Hamm stars as Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a once-successful hedge fund manager who is unceremoniously fired after a tryst with a lower-level employee. Between his abrupt ouster and a contract that prevents him from immediately accepting a role at a competing firm, he’s left with a few undesirable options. Rather than accept a too-junior position elsewhere or simply downsize from his multiple luxury homes, he decides to steal from his similarly affluent neighbors. It is a brash idea that Coop adopts with startling ease.If there’s a reason behind that, creator Jonathan Tropper doesn’t really explore it in these first episodes. It’s partly why Your Friends & Neighbors’ pacing feels tricky. Things move slowly here, which would be totally fine if more of the journey was dedicated towards really digging into the stickier parts of Coop or building a somewhat cohesive case to support his bold pivot. But we’re not offered much beyond a rich man supporting the sometimes frivolous whims of his family and his desperation to keep up appearances. Not enough to totally tank a premise, but definitely not enough to build any real empathy towards our leading man. Your Friends & Neighbors GalleryBetween robberies, Coop occasionally hints at a desire to engage in some much-needed introspection. But for every slight indictment of his sort-of former lifestyle, there’s even more evidence of his desperation to maintain it. Rather than interrogate the tension between judging the lives of his neighbors and literally risking freedom just to keep up, Tropper quickly ushers us towards the next scandal before we ask too many questions or even begin to grasp the motivation behind any of Coop’s choices.These scandals, by the way, are fairly standard fare for the The Rich Are Messier Than You Think subgenre: adultery and occasional drug use, mainly. They maintain the show’s watchability, but are hardly worth any watercooler chat. Even the robberies themselves – you know, the show’s main attraction – are few and forgettable. As Coop lifts a stack of bills here and a too-expensive watch there, he provides us with insight on his peers’conspicuous consumption: owning pieces of jewelry worth enough to feed an entire midsized village or the perplexing, uber-exclusive process of procuring a $50,000 Hermès bag. It’s an excuse to employ some interesting, magazine-spread-worthy background on the things he’s stealing, which are coupled with some glossy-magazine-sleek visuals. But the details aren’t surprising if you’ve ever encountered a rich person in real life or in fiction. Perhaps that’s the occupational hazard of a baby criminal in his first season. But if you’re going to tease some heists, for the love of all things spicy, give us some real heists – or, at the very least, juicer secrets.This isn’t quite the sneaky fish-out-of-water romp it purports to be.“The speed at which the story progresses could be due to the buffet of side plots courtesy of Coop’s family and friends/victims. When he’s not an amateur thief, Coop is a bitter divorcé still reeling from the infidelity of his ex-wife, Mel (Amanda Peet), and a father to two vaguely contemptuous teens (Isabel Gravitt and Donovan Colan). Again, we’re only offered bits and pieces of the lore behind the family dynamic, which largely revolves around Mel’s choice to cheat with one of Cooper’s close friends, ex-NBA player Nick Brandes (Mark Tallman). We’re largely left in the dark as to why things fell apart, aside from a few fairly useless idioms from Coop: who admits to taking his “eyes off the ball” at some point during their union. We’re also not clear on what made him such a terrible father or why Mel, a therapist by trade, appears oddly apathetic about her betrayal. Still, there’s an undeniable allure to Peet, who leans into Mel’s complexities and finds moments to inject some humanity, all the while standing absolutely toe-to-toe with Hamm in both moments of peace and chaos.This is where the show picks up in strength and potential: with its cast, who deliver despite their middling material rather than because of it. Hamm, as expected, is charming and knows how to deliver a line with darkly comedic flair. Olivia Munn, who shines as Coop’s soon-to-be-divorced neighbor and occasional fling, Samantha Levitt, avoids coming off as a cliched vixen thanks to her sharp wit and emotional depth. Her chemistry with Hamm is bested only by her chemistry with Peet as friends and unknowing (at least for Mel) love triangle rivals. In fact, the women of Your Friends & Neighbors, though largely underwritten as little more than sexy, sexy messes, are still far more compelling when given more to do than worry about Coop. This includes Lena Hall, who plays the younger sister who’s forced to move in with him, and Aimee Carrerro as Elena Benavides, a savvy, observant maid who inserts herself into his double life. While the heft of the its premise is seemingly placed on Hamm’s shoulders, much of the ensemble are still afforded private battles that, if the writers decide to dig a little deeper in future episodes and seasons (which are already partially guaranteed, given the show’s early renewal prior to debut) can provide some distraction from Coop’s undercooked insights.PlayTo be clear, Your Friends & Neighbors is perfectly watchable if you still harbor some curiosity over the opulent lives of the rich. It’s stylish, occasionally humorous (sometimes unintentionally so, like in its almost cartoonish portrayal of coke usage), and yes, teeming with sexy moments thanks to its sexy, capable cast. But this isn’t quite the sneaky fish-out-of-water romp it purports itself to be, nor is its main character nearly as complex as his long stretches of self-indulgent banter suggest. If you’re looking for more, much like Coop’s decision to dabble in crime in the first place, there are better choices.

This article contains spoilers for the Black Mirror episode “Common People.” Season 7 opener “Common People” is one of the darkest episodes of Black Mirror…and that’s a high bar to clear. Previous installments of Charlie Brooker’s long-running sci-fi anthology have plumbed the depths of technodystopia – featuring temporal torture, infanticide, and several actual apocalypses. Still, Common People does something those other puny Black Mirrors would never dream of: It kills America’s sweetheart Rashida Jones. Jones stars as Amanda who, along with her husband Mike (Chris O’Dowd), is leading one of those peaceful “first act of a Black Mirror episode” lives. While money is tight and some fertility issues bubble up for the working class family, they nevertheless remain happily in love. And then story writers Brooker and Bisha K. Ali go ahead and throw an inoperable tumor into Amanda’s parietal lobe, sending her into a coma she’ll likely never wake up from. Thankfully, tech company Rivermind has a solution. The surgery to repair Amanda’s brain is free but the streaming model to keep it online will cost $300 a month. That, of course, is the ad model. The ad-free costs more. And then keeping up with the evolving servers and cell towers costs even more than that. Staying awake longer than a few hours a day? That’s extra. Feeling serene? That’s extra. Getting pregnant? Buddy, you best believe that’s extra. The financial burden of keeping Amanda operational grows so dire that she and Mike opt to unplug entirely, making “Common People” only the second Black Mirror episode by my count to conclude with euthanasia (following in the footsteps of the far more hopeful “San Junipero”). Having co-written the teleplay for Black Mirror season 3 opener “Nosedive” alongside Michael Schur, Rashida Jones is no stranger to the franchise’s bleak satirical approach. Jones discussed what it was like to re-enter the Black Mirror universe when she and Gaynor actress Tracee Ellis Ross spoke to Den of Geek and other journalists at a pre-release roundtable. “I’m never saying no to Black Mirror. Charlie knows that,” Jones says. “But this felt like it really had that classic Black Mirror flavor. Tonally, it reminds me of the first time I ever watched Black Mirror in its first season – that bleakness and ability to straddle comedy and darkness. I would do anything to be in this universe. But this episode in particular, I felt well suited for this part.” According to the duo, the process for receiving a Black Mirror script and learning of its premise is something straight out of a Black Mirror episode itself. “I said yes before knowing what the episode was,” Ross says. “Then, when I read the script, I was like ‘oh, even better!’ You get a script that is digitally imprinted for you so no one can read it but you, not even your representatives. It’s kind of cool. You feel like you’re in an alternate reality.” Once aboard, the biggest challenge for Jones wasn’t the episode’s brutal ending but the seemingly more mundane issue of ad copy that Rivermind requires Amanda to deliver. “I was the most excited by that and also the most nervous about it being right. Ally Pankiw, the director, was so great. She let me experiment and try variety of things that were really subtle, and then really over the top. We ended up somewhere in the middle where it feels like the ads are using my personality to sell, as opposed to the ad kind of taking over in a way that just doesn’t feel like me.” Still, the ending looms large as Common People’s most defining feature. Though Amanda’s weakened state by the story’s conclusion calls into question how much autonomy she has over the decision to end her life, Jones is confident it’s something that she and Mike came to together. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! “I bet it’ll be debated whether or not she actually had the agency to make that decision, and how much of it was her,” Jones says. “But I kind of chose that it was like the best version of herself. I push up the serenity button at the end and I think it’s still me, just in a clearer mindset where I’m not distraught with pain and fatigue. As far as Mike is concerned, my interpretation is that he is doing the same thing.” Though the story ends here for both Amanda and Mike, it might just be only the beginning for Rivermind’s malign influence on the world. Building upon her experience in writing for the show and living up to its speculative fiction nature, Jones imagines an even darker eventual reality for future Rivermind subscribers. “That’s the trajectory of capitalism. Things are out of reach and then they’re made accessible while these people’s lives are at stake. You can imagine a future of Rivermind where there are all these tiers for things that are possible: living forever, being young forever, while the base thing remains keeping people alive in any kind of coverage zone. That’s probably where they’re headed to. It’s so dark.” That’s the thing about Black Mirror‘s bad endings. They often leave something even worse up to the viewers’ imagination…if they can dare to imagine it. All six episodes of Black Mirror season 7 are available to stream on Netflix now.