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• 93% of UK companies have faced a business-critical incident (86% globally)
• They're not testing recovery plans frequently enough, though
• Some are putting together inventories of critical systems

New research has warned UK companies could be at a higher risk of facing dangerous cyber incidents, with 93% having experienced a business-critical incident compared with 86% globally.

The data comes from a Commvault study in the months following the impactful attack on UK retail giant M&S and reveals a recent uptick in incidents, with 57% having occurred in the past 18 months.

However, despite the more at-risk nature of UK companies, 21% are less likely to have dedicated recovery environments than their global counterparts and 11% are less likely to have tested recovery plans in the last month.

UK firms get more cyberattacks than the global average

Commvault noted, even though British firms are more likely to experience "frequent devastating incidents," they're falling behind when it comes to their recovery readiness, and that's down to three key failures: the complexity of existing systems and applications (52%), the struggle to keep recovery plans in line with their changing needs (47%) and difficulties separating core systems from less business-critical operations (30%).

"Having a tested recovery plan in place and a dedicated recovery environment in the cloud can make all the difference between chaos and continuous business," Commvault EMEA SVP Richard Gadd explained.

However, tables and turning and companies are starting to lay the foundations of change. The report details how two in three (65%) have an inventory of business-critical systems and dependencies, which is higher than the global average (50%).

Looking ahead, companies can strengthen their cybersecurity postures by adopting zero trust and deny-by-default principles to prevent many threats while also deploying continuous monitoring systems.

With UK firms less likely to have conducted a recovery test in the past month, there's clear scope for further testing including both recovery and penetration testing to highlight any weak points before an attack takes place.

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Liquid Glass is sometimes hard to notice unless you're looking for it. This is what Apple's done to your Mac's icons in the latest version of the OS.

Dynatrace positions itself as a leader in the competitive network monitoring space, offering a complete observability platform that extends far beyond basic network metrics. While on the hunt for the best network monitoring tools of 2025, we found it to be particularly strong for enterprise environments with complex and distributed infrastructures.

TechRadar reviewers spend several weeks researching each major IT platform in the market, analyzing everything from core functionality to pricing and customer support quality. When we looked at Dynatrace, we were especially impressed by its AI-powered Davis engine, which automatically detects anomalies and performs root cause analysis across your entire stack.

While our top pick LogicMonitor remains the best overall network monitoring tool of 2025, Dynatrace offers unique strengths for organizations needing comprehensive observability beyond traditional network monitoring. Dynatrace has also been recognized as a leader in G2's Network Monitoring for 2025 and Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms.

Dynatrace: Features

Dynatrace is an exceptionally feature-rich platform that goes well beyond traditional network monitoring to provide observability across applications, infrastructure, and user experience. It's primarily geared toward enterprise organizations with complex environments distributed across multiple cloud and on-premises systems.

Features are generally well-executed, with particular strengths in automated discovery, dependency mapping, and intelligent alerting, though some users note that pure network monitoring capabilities aren't as robust as specialized tools like SolarWinds NPM. While the premium pricing makes it inaccessible for small teams, the feature set justifies the cost for organizations looking for unified observability over point solutions.

Full-stack monitoring

Dynatrace's flagship capability provides end-to-end visibility from user experience down to infrastructure components, automatically discovering and mapping all dependencies across your technology stack. The OneAgent technology deploys with minimal configuration and begins collecting metrics, traces, and logs immediately, supporting automatic instrumentation for hundreds of technologies without manual intervention. This eliminates the blind spots common in traditional monitoring approaches by correlating performance issues across all tiers of your environment.

AI-powered analytics

The Davis AI engine serves as Dynatrace's differentiating factor, continuously analyzing billions of dependencies and metrics to automatically detect anomalies and determine root causes. Rather than simply alerting on threshold breaches, Davis provides context-aware insights that help IT teams understand not just what happened, but why it happened and what should be done about it. It reduces alert noise significantly while ensuring critical issues receive immediate attention with actionable remediation guidance.

Network performance monitoring

While network monitoring isn't Dynatrace's primary strength, the platform provides process-level network visibility that goes beyond traditional host-based monitoring. You can track network performance metrics between specific processes and services, identify connection issues proactively, and understand network topology in dynamic cloud environments. The platform automatically monitors new network interfaces and provides integrated health metrics alongside other key resource indicators.

Real user monitoring

Dynatrace captures actual user interactions across web, mobile, and API channels to provide insights into real-world performance and user experience. It tracks click patterns, page load times, and user journeys while identifying frustration points and performance bottlenecks that impact customer satisfaction. This extends beyond synthetic testing to understand how actual users experience your applications under real-world conditions.

(Image credit: Dynatrace)Dynatrace: Ease of Use

Dynatrace comes with a modern interface that uses its Smartscape data visualization to help users understand complex environment relationships at a glance. Its automatic discovery capabilities significantly reduce initial setup complexity, with deployment typically completing in minutes without extensive configuration.

However, the sheer breadth of features and data available can create a steep learning curve for new users, particularly those transitioning from simpler monitoring tools. That said, the platform includes helpful features like in-product live chat assistance available directly within the interface, allowing users to get immediate help without leaving their monitoring environment.

Dynatrace has invested heavily in user experience improvements, with recent updates focusing on streamlining workflows and reducing the number of clicks required for common tasks. While the learning curve exists, IT teams find the investment in training worthwhile given the platform's capabilities and the reduction in time-to-resolution it provides for complex issues.

Dynatrace: Pricing

Plan

Starting price (paid annually)

What's included

Infrastructure Monitoring

$0.04 per hour per host

Host monitoring for any server size, with basic dashboards and alerting

Kubernetes Platform Monitoring

$0.002 per hour

Complete observability across all Kubernetes clusters, workloads, pods and more

Synthetic Monitoring

$0.001 per request

High throughput monitoring for browser clickpaths, single pages, and APIs

Full-Stack Monitoring

$0.08 per hour per host

Complete APM and observability, AI-powered insights, OneAgent deployment, OpenTelemetry support

Dynatrace employs a usage-based pricing model that scales with your environment size and monitoring requirements. There's no hidden fees, but you'll be making potentially complex cost calculations for larger deployments.

It works well for organizations with predictable infrastructure sizes, plus volume discounts make it more attractive for enterprise deployments. Compared to competitors, Dynatrace sits at the premium end of the market, which reflects its comprehensive feature set but may price out smaller organizations that need simpler network monitoring solutions.

Dynatrace: Customer Support

Dynatrace offers two tiers of support: Standard Support included with all subscriptions and Enterprise Support for customers requiring enhanced service levels.

Standard Support includes in-product live chat assistance available directly within the Dynatrace interface, allowing users to connect with product experts for configuration questions and basic troubleshooting during business hours. The support team has access to product development experts for complex issues, ensuring customers can reach the right level of expertise when needed.

Enterprise Support provides enhanced response times, dedicated support resources, and expanded coverage hours for mission-critical environments. All customers also have access to comprehensive self-help resources including detailed documentation, the Dynatrace Community forum, and Dynatrace University for training and certification.

While support quality generally receives positive feedback from enterprise customers, some smaller organizations report challenges getting rapid responses during peak periods with Standard Support.

Dynatrace: Alternatives

Dynatrace occupies a unique position in the observability market, serving as both a comprehensive monitoring platform and a specialized network monitoring tool, though its strength lies more in the former. It's best suited for enterprises with distributed environments where the AI-driven insights and visibility justify the premium pricing and complexity.

If you're looking for pure network monitoring tools, you might find better value in specialized tools like SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor or PRTG. But for organizations looking for network monitoring and observability, Dynatrace's main competitors include New Relic and Datadog.

Dynatrace: Final Verdict

Dynatrace delivers exceptional value for enterprise organizations requiring comprehensive observability beyond traditional network monitoring, with its AI-powered Davis engine and full-stack visibility providing capabilities that few competitors can match. It excels in complex, distributed environments where automatic discovery, dependency mapping, and intelligent root cause analysis justify the premium pricing and learning curve investment.

While pure network monitoring isn't Dynatrace's strongest suit compared to specialized tools, its ability to correlate network issues with application and infrastructure performance makes it valuable for organizations seeking unified observability. However, smaller organizations or those with simpler network monitoring needs may find Dynatrace overkill in both complexity and cost, making alternatives like LogicMonitor or PRTG more practical choices.

Dynatrace: FAQs

Is Dynatrace primarily a network monitoring tool?

No, Dynatrace is primarily an observability platform that includes network monitoring as one component of its full-stack approach. While it provides process-level network visibility and can monitor network performance between services, its core strength lies in application performance monitoring, infrastructure monitoring, and AI-driven analytics across the entire technology stack. Those looking for dedicated network monitoring tools might find better value in specialized solutions like LogicMonitor or SolarWinds NPM.

How does Dynatrace pricing work for growing organizations?

Dynatrace uses a usage-based pricing model where costs scale with your monitored infrastructure, measured in host-hours or GiB-hours depending on the plan. The platform offers volume discounts for larger commitments and allows organizations to exceed their minimum annual commitment on an on-demand basis without penalties. While this flexibility helps growing organizations, costs can increase significantly as infrastructure scales, making budget planning important for expansion.

What level of expertise is required to implement Dynatrace?

Dynatrace is designed for enterprise IT teams and requires moderate to advanced expertise to fully leverage its capabilities, though initial deployment is relatively straightforward thanks to OneAgent's automatic discovery.

While the platform can begin collecting data within minutes of deployment, maximizing its AI-driven insights, custom dashboards, and advanced alerting typically requires several weeks of learning and configuration.

Dynatrace provides comprehensive training resources through Dynatrace University and offers in-product support to help teams get up to speed.

Can Dynatrace replace multiple monitoring tools?

Yes, Dynatrace is specifically designed to consolidate multiple monitoring functions into a single platform, covering application performance, infrastructure monitoring, network monitoring, real user monitoring, and synthetic testing.

This eliminates data silos and provides correlated insights across the entire technology stack, which is particularly valuable for complex enterprise environments. However, organizations with specialized needs might still require dedicated tools for specific use cases like detailed network flow analysis or specialized database monitoring.

How does Dynatrace compare to other observability platforms?

Dynatrace differentiates itself primarily through its Davis AI engine, which provides automated root cause analysis and intelligent alerting beyond what competitors like New Relic or Datadog typically offer.

It also excels in automatic discovery and dependency mapping, requiring less manual configuration than many alternatives. However, it comes with premium pricing that may exceed competitors, and some users find its comprehensive feature set more complex than needed for simpler monitoring requirements.

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Protect your skin from harmful UV rays with the best sunscreens out there -- tried and tested by our skincare experts.

• A generous helping of new Pixel 10 leaks have appeared
• There's a promo clip, eSIM rumors, and pricing too
• The Pixel 10 Pro Fold might be delayed

We only have a few hours left before the Google Pixel 10 is official, and you can follow all of the latest news in our Pixel 10 launch liveblog. But leakers aren't slowing down: we've got a repeated rumor about a controversial design change, plus a 30-second clip showing off some Pixel 10 features.

First that design change, and well-known tipster @evleaks has again hinted that the Pixel 10 phones will be eSIM-only, by posting what looks to be an image from the phone's packaging: "you no longer need a physical SIM card" the text reads.

It's something that the same source predicted earlier this month, though it's not clear which regions and handsets this would apply to. It seems it may be a US-only move, and that the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold will hang on to a physical SIM card slot.

There are a lot of advantages to eSIMs, which make it easier to set up and swap numbers, but some users still prefer the physical SIM – especially for convenience when traveling and swapping between services. Apple went eSIM-only with the iPhone 14 back in 2022, though iPhones outside the US still have SIM slots.

Bonjour, Pixel 10

Bonjour, Pixel 10 pic.twitter.com/KYvJPYpbN8August 19, 2025

Our second leak of the day comes from another veteran tipster, @MysteryLupin. It's a full 30-second promotional clip for the Google Pixel 10, showing off some of the features we can expect – though it is in French.

We have Gemini Live shown off here, which of course isn't a new feature. In the demo, the user asks how to make an espresso using the coffee machine that's just been unboxed, and Google's AI serves up the necessary instructions.

One feature here that is new is Coach Photo, which seems to be a way of helping you get the best photos by advising you on framing, zooming, and so on. It's something that's already been rumored, albeit under the name Camera Coach.

The last feature demoed is Video Boost for stabilizing shaky video: it's already available on Pro Pixels, but the indications from this video are that it may come to the base Pixel 10 this year (presumably it has the necessary processing power to handle it).

And yet more leaks

Pricing. The Buds 2a slot in at $129. Enjoy the launch tomorrow, especially those planning to buy. pic.twitter.com/ZSKwq52LDMAugust 20, 2025

There's more to mention: @evleaks has also confirmed what we've heard from previous leaks that Pixel 10 pricing will match Pixel 9 pricing – so the range should be starting at $799 / £799 / AU$1,349 for the cheapest Pixel 10, and going up from there.

We also have a social post from @rquandt.bsky.social‬, another reliable tipster, showing off marketing materials and specs for the Pixel 10 handsets, including screen sizes: 6.3 inches for the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro, and 6.8 inches for the Pixel 10 Pro XL. The rumored Pixelsnap wireless charging is also mentioned again.

As for the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, it's listed as having a 6.4-inch outer display and an 8-inch inner one. Based on this leak it seems as though the phone may have delayed availability, with one Belgian retailer suggesting that preorders will start on September 25.

All of this will shortly be made official, and we'll bring you the news as it happens. The Made by Google event gets underway at 10am PT / 1am ET / 6pm BST today (August 20), which is August 21 at 3am AEST for Australia, and you can watch along online.

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How to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17

The Gang are back… and it’s been the usual chaos. From law breaking to dodgy dealing, after two long years, everyone’s favourite narcissists returned. Read on, as we explain how to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 online from anywhere.

Premiered: July 9

Finale: Wednesday, August 20 at 9pm ET / PT

US broadcast: FXX via Sling TV

US stream: Hulu (30-day trial)

International stream: Disney Plus (CA, AU)

Use NordVPN to watch any stream

Season 17 is the season of crossovers for the crew of Paddy’s Pub, as not only did we finally see the Gang’s PoV of the Abbott Elementary mash-up in the season opener, but Danny DeVito’s Frank finds himself a contestant on The Golden Bachelor in tonight's finale. Elsewhere, there’s been PR disasters, Saudi dealings, side hustles and reinventions, all in the pursuit of money, and lots of it.

The usual core cast are here, with the newly rechristened Rob Mac, starring alongside Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Kaitlin Olson. We also saw the return of David Hornsby as the long-suffering Cricket.

Ready to say goodbye to another round of beautiful chaos? Here's our guide on how to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 online and from anywhere.

How to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 in the US

If you have cable, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 airs on Wednesdays, with the finale set for August 20 at 9pm ET / PT.

Don't have cable? Cord-cutting services with FX include Sling TV – specifically the Sling Orange package from $46 per month. You can even get $10 off your first month, before returning to the original fee. There's also Fubo from $84.99 and Hulu with Live TV from $82.99 per month after a 3-day free trial.

If you're happy to watch on demand, episodes will also be available to stream on Hulu the following day.

Away from the US? Use a VPN to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 online from abroad.

How to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 from anywhere

For those away from home looking to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, you’ll be unable to watch the show as normal due to regional restrictions. Luckily, there’s an easy solution.

Downloading a VPN allows you to stream geo-blocked services safely and securely online, no matter where you are. It's a simple bit of software that changes your IP address, meaning that you can access on-demand content or live TV just as if you were at home. Our favorite is NordVPN.

Use a VPN to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 from anywhere:

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How to watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 in the UK, Canada or Australia

Disney Plus is the international home of brand new episodes from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17.

In Canada, new episodes stream every Thursday, while Aussies can catch weekly episodes every Wednesday.

There's currently no release date set for the UK, but typically episodes don't start streaming in Blighty until the whole season has aired Stateside.

American away from home? You can still connect to your usual VOD services by downloading a VPN and pointing your location back to the US.

What you need to know about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17It's Always Sunny... S017E7 recap

Episode 7: "The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time ": "Upon learning Frank's making a 'Hometown Visit' with his Golden Bachelor partners, the Gang rehearses their family dinner to appeal to America."

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 release date

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 premiered on Wednesday, July 9 in the US with episodes made available to stream in Canada from July 10 and Australia from July 16. A UK release date is TBC.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 trailerIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 episode schedule

• Episode 1 - "The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary": Wednesday, July 9
• Episode 2 - "Frank Is In a Coma": Wednesday, July 9
• Episode 3 - "Mac and Dennis Become EMTs": Wednesday, July 16
• Episode 4 - "Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation": Wednesday, July 23
• Episode 5 - "The Gang Goes to a Dog Track": Wednesday, July 30
• Episode 6 - "Overage Drinking: A National Concern": Wednesday, August 6
• Episode 7 - "The Gang Gets Ready for Prime Time": Wednesday, August 13
• Episode 8 - "The Golden Bachelor Live": Wednesday, August 20

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast

• Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly
• Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds
• Rob McElhenney as Ronald "Mac" McDonald
• Kaitlin Olson as Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds
• Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

• The iPhone 17 series could be the last phones with a Camera Control button
• This is apparently because Apple has found that people aren't using it much
• But the source doesn't have much of a track record, and there are other reasons to doubt this claim too

It’s fair to say that responses to the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series have been mixed. While some users are unconvinced by this addition to the iPhone, others have found a lot to love about the Camera Control button. But if you’re in the latter camp you’ll be disappointed to hear that its days might be numbered.

According to Weibo poster OvO Baby Sauce OvO (via GSMArena), the iPhone 17 series might be the last phones with this button, as Apple has apparently told its suppliers it will no longer order Camera Control button parts.

This is apparently because Apple has found that iPhone owners aren’t using the button much, and that by removing this key, the company can cut some costs – which could be especially beneficial in this new age of tariffs.

Still, I’m unconvinced. It’s hard to get a sense for how many people actually use the Camera Control button much, with social media suggesting it’s a real mix of lovers and haters, but even if not many people are using it, we doubt Apple would give up on it so fast.

Even the much-maligned MacBook Touch Bar lasted five years before Apple ditched it, and it’s clear that some people do like the Camera Control.

More than just camera controls

Visual Intelligence identifying a dog (Image credit: Apple)

Plus, the Camera Control button does more than that name suggests – it’s also the gateway to Visual Intelligence, which is one of Apple’s headline AI features. Now, there are other ways to access this, but they’re less immediate, or require you toggling it to the Action button, which then means you can’t use that for something else.

Right now, Visual Intelligence itself might not seem a big deal to most people, but that’s in large part because Apple Intelligence lags behind rival AI services. If and when it starts to catch up, Visual Intelligence could be something you’d reach for often, as it lets you use AI to learn about or translate whatever you’re looking at.

So it seems unlikely that Apple would make such a major feature less easily accessible – it would be like admitting not only that these camera controls aren’t that useful, but that Visual Intelligence isn’t either.

I can’t see Apple doing that, and it’s worth noting that the source making this claim also doesn’t have much of a track record. So until the same claim is made by someone like Mark Gurman – who has a history of accurately leaking Apple information – you should probably file this under unlikely.

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Step aside, Superman.

Learn about upcoming features so you can use them as soon as Apple releases iOS 26.

Brain-implanted devices that allow paralyzed people to speak can also decode words they imagine, but don't intend to share.

(Image credit: Jim Gensheimer)

• Python remains popular for data exploration, processing and engineering
• Younger developers are still using the coding language
• Only 15% use the latest release of Python, research finds

An extensive survey of around 30,000 developers has revealed Python is still a preferred language for many programmers, with around three in four (72%) using it for work, and 86% preferring it over any other language.

The Python Developer Survey (perhaps unsurprisingly) revealed an important bit of information that ties in with Python's ease of use – half of its users have less than two years' experience, suggesting its user base spans younger developers.

Still, it remains unbeatable across many categories, with more programmers using Python for web development (46%) compared with previous studies (42%).

Python is an all-time favorite programming language

Python is also a popular choice when it comes to data exploration and processing (51%), artificial intelligence and machine learning (41%) and data engineering (31%).

However, there remains a broad reluctance to upgrade to the latest release, with only 15% on 3.13.

More than a combined half are still using 3.12 (35%) and 3.11 (21%), with few seeing the need to upgrade at all – 53% say their current version meets their needs and 25% note a lack of time to upgrade.

A further 27% noted compatibility issues associated with choosing newer releases, despite the promised performance improvements such as 10-15% less memory usage and 11% faster performance when upgrading from 3.11 to 3.13.

Still, the language remains crucial for an important part of the community – around one in three developers continue to open source software, including documentation and tutorials, which are among the most popular learning mechanisms for new developers (followed by videos hosted on platforms like YouTube and AI tools like ChatGPT).

Given that Python isn't going anywhere, the need to upgrade is clear. With only 15% operating on the newest release, huge free performance gains are on the cards.

"By taking this action, you will be able to take advantage of the full potential of modern Python, from the performance benefits to the language features," Talk Python founder Michael Kennedy explained in a blog post.

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Some 2 in 5 of all the local officials who administered the 2020 election left their jobs before the 2024 cycle, new research has found.

(Image credit: Scott Olson)

Democrats have struggled to counter GOP efforts to frame itself as the party of "law and order." Some see it as a problem of messaging, while others think past and current policies may be to blame.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

The Big Bang Theory, were an example of nerd culture on TV.'/>

Nerd has been part of our lexicon for three-quarters of a century, its geeky meaning embodied by some of the most recognizable characters in film and TV, but its origin story is a bit murky.

(Image credit: Monty Brinton)

Affiliate marketing in 2025 is undergoing a transformation that reflects the dynamic nature of the industry. A 3.38% conversion rate for e-shop owners, according to platform data from 2Performant, reflects a strong industry performance, but it only tells part of the story. Growth is happening across multiple alternative channels, with video-first platforms, social commerce and emerging formats challenging conventional affiliate marketing approaches.

The shift towards alternative channels is an evolution in how consumers discover and purchase products across multiple touchpoints. With video content representing over 62% of internet traffic in the EU, social commerce growing at 30% annually, and mobile commerce accounting for 74% of all global mobile data, the infrastructure for multi-channel affiliate marketing is not only ready but actively driving consumer behavior.

The Dynamics of Emerging Trends in the European Market

Europe's embrace of alternative channels varies across regions, reflecting differences in consumer behavior, market maturity, and commercial infrastructure. What works effectively in the US market doesn't automatically translate to European consumers, who tend to be more cautious about online purchases and more research-driven in their shopping behavior.

Across Europe, Google campaigns and CSS affiliates continue to serve as the primary sales drivers, consistently delivering the most reliable revenue. The continued dominance of PPC affiliates stems from financial accountability. Agencies invest their own money in campaigns, creating a direct relationship between their profitability and performance that reflects how campaigns are optimized.

Yet, the live-shopping and video commerce trend is catching on.

Platforms like Temu and Trendyol are investing heavily in promotional campaigns and growing in European markets. This expansion isn't happening in isolation. The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has made consumers more prudent but it has also created demand for the very benefits that video commerce provides, including real-time interaction, immediate question answering and detailed product demonstration.

When 55% of European consumers report they "can't afford to make wrong choices," live shopping's ability to provide authentic, detailed product information becomes a competitive advantage rather than a nice-to-have feature.

Video Commerce: The Leading Alternative Channel

Video commerce has emerged as the most visible alternative channel, with TikTok Shop processing thousands of live sessions daily in the UK alone and live shopping generating billions in global merchandise value. Individual sellers are seeing meaningful results, with typical live sessions moving around 100 items worth approximately £773 in sales.

The platform's success stems from its understanding of modern consumer behavior. Today's shoppers, particularly younger demographics, expect entertainment, education and commerce to be seamlessly integrated. TikTok Shop delivers this integration and creates shopping experiences that feel natural rather than transactional.

However, the effectiveness varies significantly by product category and target demographic. Beauty and personal care categories are generating billions in gross merchandise value globally, while other categories struggle to achieve similar conversion rates. This selective success highlights the importance of channel-product fit rather than assuming general applicability.

Social Commerce Beyond Video

Social commerce includes Instagram Shopping, Pinterest Product Pins and Facebook Marketplace integrations, extending beyond video platforms. These platforms are experiencing significant growth by allowing consumers to discover and purchase products without leaving their preferred social environments.

Instagram Shopping has evolved into a commerce platform with features like product tags, shop tabs, and checkout functionality creating seamless purchase journeys. Pinterest's visual discovery model aligns with product exploration, making it effective for home décor, fashion and lifestyle categories.

The key advantage of social commerce is in its ability to capture consumers during moments of inspiration rather than active search. This discovery-based approach complements traditional search-based affiliate marketing by reaching consumers earlier in their purchase journey.

The Advantage of the Performance-Based Model

The transition towards cost-per-sale pricing models favors alternative channels that can demonstrate clear conversion paths. When agencies and creators are compensated based on actual sales rather than clicks or impressions, the conversion capabilities of well-executed alternative channel strategies become clear competitive advantages.

Video commerce's ability to demonstrate products, answer questions and build trust translates directly into higher conversion rates for businesses willing to invest in quality content and authentic presenter skills. The integrated nature of video platforms means that attribution and performance management tracking provide clearer insights into what drives conversions, making it easier to optimize campaigns for maximum effectiveness.

While search-based affiliate marketing continues to generate revenue, it's increasingly competing for attention with more engaging formats. The mobile performance crisis affecting traditional affiliate marketing, with click-through rates dropping by 50% and AI overviews further reducing traffic, doesn't impact alternative channels in the same way.

Google's algorithm changes increasingly favor video content, making it harder for traditional affiliate sites to maintain their search rankings. Social platforms are also investing heavily in commerce features that make alternative channel shopping more seamless and attractive.

Consumers, particularly younger demographics, are moving away from text-based research towards multi-channel discovery and decision-making processes that blend entertainment, education, and commerce across multiple touchpoints.

The Technology Infrastructure Is Ready

The technology for multi-channel affiliate marketing has matured quickly. Attribution systems can now track performance across multiple touchpoints from initial discovery through final purchase.

Content creation tools have democratized production across multiple formats, making it possible for individual creators and small businesses to produce engaging content for video, social and emerging channels without substantial budgets. Mobile-first platforms have eliminated many technical barriers that once made alternative channels accessible only to well-funded enterprises.

Payment platforms have also evolved to support seamless purchase journeys across all channels, with fintech solutions enabling smooth transactions regardless of where the customer journey begins.

Integration Over Replacement

The future of affiliate marketing is in understanding how to integrate traditional and alternative channels effectively. Alternative channels represent opportunities for growth and differentiation, but they work best when combined with the reliability and reach of established channels.

Live shopping will continue growing throughout 2025, but scalability challenges prevent it from becoming a dominant revenue source for most businesses. Social commerce works particularly well for discovery and inspiration, while emerging technology channels excel at reducing friction for specific use cases.

The most important factor remains the quality of commercial offers presented to consumers. No amount of creative content, sophisticated technology or innovative formats can compensate for poor pricing, low-quality products or complicated purchasing processes. Success in 2025 will come from businesses that build their affiliate marketing strategies around creating genuine value for consumers across multiple channels.

Alternative channels are defining the next wave of sales because they align with how consumers actually want to shop in 2025. The transformation is already underway, and the question is how quickly businesses will adapt these alternative channels to capture the opportunity while maintaining the foundation that traditional channels provide.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

An Israeli official said that the military will be operating in parts of Gaza City where the Israeli military has not yet operated and where Hamas is still active.

(Image credit: Ariel Schalit)

A few months ago, Chinese LLM DeepSeek-R1 made headlines. The world was introduced to an open-source AI model that matched OpenAI o1’s reasoning abilities at a fraction of the cost. A relatively obscure startup topped Apple’s App Store rankings and sent shockwaves through global stock markets.

DeepSeek’s breakthrough proved AI could be built without massive capital investment or Nvidia’s highest-grade chips. More importantly, it showed that an open-source strategy could challenge America’s AI hegemony. China is betting that widespread, open-source use offers more value than the West’s paywalled models, such as ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Perplexity.

But if DeepSeek was a minnow, a Chinese whale is now having its own open-source moment: Baidu, China’s answer to Google, with 704 million monthly active app users and a market cap of 31.6 billion USD, has announced it will open-source its powerful generative AI model, Ernie. This release represents a dramatic policy reversal for Baidu, whose CEO Robin Li had previously advocated for proprietary, closed-source models as the only viable path for AI development.

If DeepSeek demonstrated that China could compete with the West, Baidu’s open-source pivot makes Chinese AI seem almost unstoppable. The commoditization of AI is accelerating, and China’s tech giants are redrawing the battle lines with the West from a performance race into a price war.

Here’s why Baidu’s open-source play matters more than DeepSeek's January breakthrough.

Deep Pockets

While DeepSeek was, at least in appearance, a proof of concept from a scrappy startup, Baidu brings the institutional weight, capital firepower, and, crucially, the distribution channels, to ensure widespread adoption.

In the age of AI, it pays to be a big company. Their sheer scale enables larger investments, improves resilience against market shocks and trade sanctions, and offers hyperscalers the advantage of applying this technology to their existing products.

Just look at Google. The American search engine giant is leveraging its existing broad and loyal customer base to attract traffic to its Gemini models, which are being integrated into its search function. At the May Google I/O conference, Google announced that its ‘AI Overviews’ (the AI summaries displayed next to search results) are used by more than 1.5 billion people each month. Baidu will doubtless do the same, leveraging its economies of scale to make Ernie a winner.

Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s momentum has sputtered. The smaller tech outfit has been forced to delay the release of its next-generation R2 model after struggling to procure enough of Nvidia’s high-end graphics processing units to complete training, because of new U.S. sanctions on chip exports to China, according to The Information.

As it stands, Baidu’s Ernie API has an 18% market share, still some way behind DeepSeek’s 34% share; however, Baidu’s size means it can rapidly make up ground.

From Performance Race to Price War

China is commoditizing AI faster than the West can monetize it. When developers can access high-performance AI without Big Tech’s pricing gates, it fundamentally rewrites who can afford to innovate.

DeepSeek-R1 debuted at $0.55 input/$2.19 output, undercutting the then SOTA model o1 by 90%+ on output token pricing. Since then, reasoning model prices have cratered, with OpenAI recently cutting its flagship model price by 80%, according to SemiAnalysis. Baidu already said in March that its Ernie X1 model delivers performance on par with DeepSeek-R1 “at only half the price.”

“If open-source AI becomes just as powerful as proprietary US models,” wrote June Yoon, Asia Lex Editor of the Financial Times in an article earlier this year, “the ability to monetize AI as an exclusive product collapses. Why pay for closed models if a free, equally capable alternative exists?”

The West may be forced to rethink its pricing strategies and business models when China can release equally good AI at virtually no cost.

Developer Ecosystem

China could never compete when the U.S. is making deals the size of Stargate, which is set to rise to $500 billion, and imposing tariffs on the tools used to build AI. That’s why China was forced to become self-sufficient.

By open-sourcing AI, they can bypass U.S. sanctions, decentralize development, and access global talent to improve models. Restrictions on Nvidia’s chips matter less when the rest of the world can refine China’s models on alternative hardware.

This approach may render restrictions moot, as much development occurs on Nvidia infrastructure outside China. By publishing the code of its flagship LLM, Baidu aims to foster broader adoption and a developer community around the technology.

CEO Li said as much to Chinese developers in April this year: “Our releases aim to empower developers to build the best applications — without having to worry about model capability, costs, or development tools.”

More developers using Ernie’s code will help it scale to new heights.

Game on

As more Chinese tech giants embrace open-source AI, they’re creating an alternative technology stack that bypasses U.S. control. Every developer who builds on Ernie instead of GPT-4 is one less customer for Silicon Valley and one more node in China’s AI ecosystem.

While DeepSeek faces delays and hardware shortages, established players like Baidu can take on the baton and sustain the open-source assault indefinitely. They have the capital to subsidize free AI and the scale to support millions of users.

For Western tech companies clinging to closed models and subscription fees, the message is clear: the game has changed. Adapt or become irrelevant.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Artificial intelligence has firmly established itself as a cornerstone of modern business transformation. From enhancing customer service to streamlining operations and uncovering insights from data, AI’s role in the enterprise is no longer experimental - it is essential.

For many organizations, this journey has been powered by cloud-based infrastructure. The cloud has allowed businesses to quickly scale AI tools without investing in specialist hardware, accelerating adoption and innovation. However, as AI moves from tactical deployments to deeper integration across operations, cracks are beginning to show in the cloud-first model.

Latency, Cost and Compliance Risks

Real-time responsiveness is critical to the success of AI applications, especially for tasks that require instant decision making. Cloud processing, by its nature, depends on the transmission of data across networks, introducing latency that can affect performance. In sectors like finance, healthcare or manufacturing, even small delays can make a meaningful difference.

At the same time, the financial burden of running large-scale AI models in the cloud is growing. What was once a cost-efficient way to experiment with AI can become expensive at scale. As models increase in complexity and the demand for high-volume data processing grows, many businesses are finding that cloud service costs escalate quickly and sometimes unpredictably.

Then there is the issue of data governance. With regulations tightening globally, organizations are under pressure to ensure data remains within secure and compliant environments. Cloud-based AI often involves the transfer and storage of sensitive information on third-party servers, which can create challenges around data sovereignty and auditability.

Why On-Device AI Is Gaining Ground

These limitations are driving renewed interest in on-device AI as a model that processes data locally on endpoint devices such as PCs or mobile workstations. Rather than relying on remote servers, these devices are equipped with dedicated capacity to run machine learning models directly, offering a range of operational and strategic benefits.

Recent research from HP and YouGov, surveying over 1,000 UK workers and senior IT decision makers, underlines this shift. More than half of business leaders indicated they would be more likely to adopt AI if it were embedded directly into employees’ devices. And nearly a third of employees said they would be more likely to use AI if it were seamlessly integrated into the software they already rely on each day.

This reflects a broader theme: workers want AI that is immediate, intuitive and trustworthy. On-device AI addresses all three, offering speed, convenience and stronger data control.

Improving Adoption Through Experience

AI’s potential is not just about what it can do, but how it is experienced by users. When embedded within familiar tools - summarizing meetings, suggesting email phrasing, or analysing data on the fly - AI becomes a natural part of the workflow, not another task to manage. This frictionless integration drives deeper engagement and delivers sustained, tangible value.

By processing data locally, on-device AI also reduces exposure to external networks, helping organizations to meet stringent data protection requirements. In regulated industries, this ability to maintain control over sensitive data without compromising functionality is a powerful enabler of compliance.

Scaling AI Requires a Hybrid Future

Despite AI’s growing presence, widespread enterprise adoption remains limited. Only around 11 per cent of organizations have scaled AI across departments. Yet among those who have, the benefits are tangible. According to HP and YouGov’s survey, one in three report cost savings of over 11 per cent, illustrating that the challenge is not in proving AI’s value, but in deploying it effectively.

Going forward, AI strategy will increasingly demand a hybrid approach that combines the scalability of cloud with the performance, security and personalization of on-device intelligence.

Business leaders must evaluate not just where AI runs, but how it fits into the fabric of their organization. The goal should be to deliver intelligence where it creates the most value, in a way that enhances employee experience, strengthens compliance and makes operations more resilient.

Cloud-based AI helped prove the value of intelligent systems. On-device AI may well be the model that ensures that value is sustained.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro