Strange Days takes place in the same universe as Avatar
The SQUID was developed by the government for covert surveillance and military/police training purposes according to the film. Somewhere along the line, they adapted the technology, allowing users to control actual living (albeit empty) entities for alien colonization. Strange Days takes place in the same universe as Dark Angel
The presence of SQUID technology in the late 1990s makes all the advanced technology in Dark Angel (such as Manticore's genetic engineering tech) seem more plausible for the early 2020s. The societal conditions in Dark Angel could also easily be seen as the logical extension of those in Strange Days; it's not hard to imagine America limping along as it was in the film for another ten years before the Pulse finally pushed it over the edge. Strange Days is a continuation of the world of the 1983 film Brainstorm
Brainstorm shows the initial development of the SQUID sensorium-recording technology as well as the government's interest in it. Early in Strange Days, it is mentioned that the technology first appeared as a replacement for the standard concealed recorders used by police. The novel Damage Time by Colin Harvey is set 50 years into the future of Strange Days
Both novels feature readily available memory recording, which by the era of Damage Time has developed further into full on memory-ripping (i.e. recording and erasure of memories). Both featuring a decaying USA, although Damage Time is more decayed, as it is set after the oil has not quite, but almost, entirely run out, and California has seceded from the union. The three women beating up a dude in a Santa costume near the start of the film
It may actually just be the mugging it appears to be......or maybe Santa just said "Ho, ho, ho," at exactly the wrong time.
Strange Days takes place in the same universe as Rising Sun and Neuromancer.
The events of Rising Sun can very easily be a prequel to Strange Days, as the Japanese were high-tech in the novel (and film adaptation) to the point where they were able to record a 24-hour video on a mini-disc similar to the SQUID tape. It could be possible that Nakamoto or one of the many smaller more advanced tech companies they purchased may have actually been contracted by the U.S. Government to create the SQUID device. It also explains how Lenny, a low-level "drug" dealer so to speak, would know how to correctly say "Konbanwa" to the Japanese businessman instead of "Konnichiwa" at night time, with the Japanese tech/culture slowly being accepted into U.S. culture.It also serves as a prequel to Neuromancer as well, as the SQUID device is strangely similar to Simstim from the William Gibson novel. The terms "deck" and "trodes" are used in both Strange Days and Neuromancer (and the wireless trodes connect the user to the deck, similar to the dermatrodes used by Case to plug into his Cyberdeck. It's not a far reach to assume that the SQUID could be a precursor to Cyberdecks, as someone could take the tech used for the SQUID and modifying it to be used to access computers instead of memory recording).
