News
- UK SMBs are worried about rising costs, survey finds
- Cash flow challenges and global economic issues are also a concern
- Having more insight and control can be key, Intuit QuickBooks says
Small businesses are becoming increasingly worried that rising costs will lead to unwelcome pressure as they look to grow and prosper.
New research from accounting software giant Intuit QuickBooks claims over half (57%) of UK SMBs are predicting rising costs in coming months.
Of these, nearly two-thirds (64%) said they are concerned about the effect these increases will have on their business, with nearly half (47%) reporting cash flow challenges.
SMB worriesThe data, contained in Intuit QuickBooks’ latest Quarterly Small Business Insights Survey, looks to highlight a number of challenges facing SMBs in the face of mounting financial and business pressure.
Just under half (42%) said they source from overseas, meaning they are more exposed to global cost pressures, and just over half (51%) say poor financial or resource management is holding their business back.
To help deal with the pressures, Intuit QuickBooks perhaps unsurprisingly recommends urgent adoption of smarter financial management processes. The findings highlight a stark need for better financial planning, and financial guidance to help businesses navigate ongoing headwinds.
“SMBs may not be able to control global markets, but they can control their finances and be better prepared for changes," noted Pauline Green, Head of International Compliance at Intuit.
"In the face of rising costs, supply chain pressures, and economic uncertainty, robust financial planning procedures play a vital role in helping businesses stay on the front foot.”
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Apple just announced major free upgrades coming to Apple Intelligence-compatible devices, set to arrive as part of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26 later this year.
The new AI features coming to these devices were sporadically showcased throughout WWDC 2025, so we've compiled a list of all the major announcements to give you a breakdown of every Apple Intelligence announcement at the event.
Unfortunately, Apple didn't showcase the Siri AI upgrade we'd been hoping for, but the Cupertino-based company did unveil a lot of new software improvements powered by Apple Intelligence.
Here are the six major Apple Intelligence upgrades announced at WWDC 2025.
1. Live Translation(Image credit: Apple)Live Translation "helps users communicate across languages when messaging or speaking," and is integrated directly into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app.
Live Translation will be able to automatically translate messages, add translated live captions to FaceTime, and on a phone call the translation will be spoken aloud throughout the conversation, completely removing language barriers using AI.
Privacy won't be an issue either, as Apple says the new translation tool runs on Apple's own AI models and "users’ personal conversations stay personal."
2. Genmoji and Image Playground upgrades(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)Apple launched Genmoji and Image Playground as part of the first wave of Apple Intelligence features, and now the company is improving its generative AI image tools.
Users can now turn text descriptions into emojis as well as mix together emojis and combine them with descriptions to create something new. You'll also be able to change expressions and adjust personal attributes of Genmojis made from photos of friends and family members.
Image Playground is now getting ChatGPT support to allow users to access brand-new styles such as oil painting and vector art. Apple says, "users are always in control, and nothing is shared with ChatGPT without their permission."
3. Visual Intelligence can now see your screenVisual Intelligence might've already been the best Apple Intelligence feature, but now the exclusive iPhone 16 AI tool is even better.
At WWDC, Apple announced that Visual Intelligence can now scan your screen, allowing users to search and take action on anything they’re viewing across apps.
You'll be able to ask ChatGPT questions about content on your screen via Apple Intelligence, and this new feature can be accessed by taking a screenshot. When using the same buttons as a screenshot, you'll be asked to save, share the screenshot, or explore more with Visual Intelligence.
@techradar ♬ original sound - TechRadarAs someone who loves Gemini's ability to see your screen, I'm incredibly excited to see how Visual Intelligence tackles its newfound power that lets it analyze what you're doing on your device.
4. Apple Intelligence on Apple Watch(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)The world's most popular smartwatch just got AI functionality in the form of Workout Buddy, a workout experience with Apple Intelligence that "incorporates a user’s workout data and fitness history to generate personalized, motivational insights during their session."
Apple says the new feature is a "first-of-its-kind workout experience" and will offer "meaningful inspiration in real time" to keep you motivated on your exercise.
Once Apple Intelligence has analyzed your workout data, "a new text-to-speech model then translates insights into a dynamic generative voice built using voice data from Fitness+ trainers, so it has the right energy, style, and tone for a workout."
Workout Buddy is the first exclusive Apple Intelligence feature on Apple Watch and will require an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone nearby. At launch, Workout Buddy will be available in English and across the following workout types: "Outdoor and Indoor Run, Outdoor and Indoor Walk, Outdoor Cycle, HIIT, and Functional and Traditional Strength Training."
5. Third party apps have Apple Intelligence access(Image credit: Apple)While this announcement might not grab any headlines, it's a big one for the future of Apple Intelligence: Developers now have access to Apple's Foundation Models.
What does that mean exactly? Well, app developers will be able to "build on Apple Intelligence to bring users new experiences that are intelligent, available when they’re offline, and that protect their privacy, using AI inference that is free of cost."
Apple's example is an education app using the Apple Intelligence model to generate a quiz from your notes, without any API costs.
This framework could completely change the way we, users, interact with our favorite third-party apps, now with the ability to tap into Apple's AI models and make the user experience even more intuitive.
6. AI-powered ShortcutsLast but not least, Apple announced Apple Intelligence powers for the Shortcuts app. This is a major upgrade to one of the best apps on Apple devices, allowing users to "tap into intelligent actions, a whole new set of shortcuts enabled by Apple Intelligence."
Apple says "Shortcuts are supercharged with Apple Intelligence," and you'll also be able to tap into ChatGPT to superpower your Shortcuts.
Just like the Shortcuts app, the true power here will come down to user creations and how people tap into this new ability. As someone who uses Shortcuts on a daily basis, I'm incredibly excited to see how Apple Intelligence improves the experience.
7. Everything else(Image credit: Apple)Alongside these six major announcements, Apple also announced that Apple Intelligence will scan and identify relevant actions from your emails, websites, notes, and other content, and then automatically categorize them in the Reminders app.
Elsewhere, Apple Wallet can now "identify and summarize order tracking details from emails sent from merchants or delivery carriers. This works across all of a user’s orders, giving them the ability to see their full order details, progress notifications, and more, all in one place."
Finally, Messages is getting Apple Intelligence poll functionality, which can detect when a poll might come in handy. The Messages app is also getting AI-generated backgrounds that can be created for each conversation using Image Playground.
Traditionally, IT and digital teams have been kept centralized and separated from the rest of the business, acting as gatekeepers for new solutions, products and initiatives. While IT is undoubtedly a business-critical function, this centralized model can hamper innovation. With our research finding that nearly 20% of employees see a lack of innovation as a barrier to high performance across the organization, it’s clear that this unnecessary bottleneck is preventing businesses from reaching their full digital potential.
To harness the power of enterprise technology, businesses should consider a new approach, one that empowers employees across departments to become technology changemakers. These “citizen developers” – individuals who sit outside of IT – must be encouraged to identify and implement digital solutions tailored to specific challenges in their roles. This can help businesses foster a culture of innovation, agility, and continuous improvement, whilst easing pressures on stretched IT teams along the way.
IT should not be innovation gatekeepersFor decades, businesses recruited heavily into IT functions as their digital infrastructure needs became vastly more complex, typically funneling all technology related change through a single department. Historically this offered the obvious benefits of centralizing control and compliance, but it may be less helpful to the way organizations have now evolved.
Employees across all departments are facing different challenges to those they faced a decade ago – the advent of hybrid working, the transition to AI tools, globally dispersed teams and clients – means they require tailored solutions to help them each work efficiently and effectively. If people need to wait for IT to determine each new product or initiative introduced across the business, great ideas and new ways of working can go ignored and ultimately missed. This in turn can dissuade individuals from suggesting new ways of working if they feel they aren’t being valued or listened to by the digital experts.
Democratizing technology for allWe speak with many forward-thinking organizations that are increasingly recognising the need to democratize how and where new technologies are implemented across their teams. But the citizen developer model does of course come with challenges to mitigate. One risk in the model is that developers will focus on what is beneficial to their specific areas, and may not appreciate the up and downstream implications of making specific requests for change.
To square this circle, governance needs to remain front and center when implementing any new solution across the company. This can end up resulting in greater collaboration across teams, as citizen developers would work with the governance team to engender a greater understanding of the business, ultimately changing the culture of the company and ensuring that everyone is moving in the same direction.
It might seem a scary prospect to some, allowing staff without technical backgrounds to take charge of their own digital needs, but it can be done in a safe and effective way with the right guidelines in place. Low-code and no-code platforms are great examples of how technology can be put into the hands of employees outside of IT, allowing them to develop and deploy solutions quickly, without requiring advanced programming skills.
By empowering the workforce to become citizen developers and equipping them with accessible, user-friendly digital tools, they can take ownership of solving their own business challenges.
Removing barriers to innovationIt’s one thing if employees are crying out for digital democratization, but this sometimes isn’t the case. Some know the problems they face and the solutions they would like to see, but the gripe stops there. They continue with outdated and friction-heavy processes and don’t think to bother IT or conceive their own digital workaround – perhaps due to the extra time it takes in an already busy working day. This is where change management comes in.
We typically find that a major challenge to enabling broader tech-driven innovation is overcoming resistance to change. Certain employees may hesitate to adopt new tools or step outside their traditional roles to engage with technology.
Organizations must actively work to evolve the mindset of the workforce, encouraging them to embrace digital literacy, continuous learning, and adaptability. Providing ongoing support, celebrating small wins, and highlighting success stories can help non-technical employees feel more confident in their ability to leverage technology effectively in their roles.
Another factor to consider is the potential risk of shadow IT, where employees use unauthorized software to meet their needs. While this highlights the demand for better tech accessibility, it also illustrates the importance of making user-friendly, company-approved tools available to everyone that needs it, to help encourage compliance without hampering innovation.
The future of digital innovation depends on collaborationThe future of work is not about replacing traditional IT roles – far from it – rather it’s about enhancing them to be more collaborative with the wider organization. IT teams will always play a critical role in digital governance, security and large-scale digital transformation. But their role will increasingly shift towards empowering other departments to innovate in ways tailored to their respective functions, so that every individual can operate to their full potential without waiting on IT to come to their rescue.
Enterprise technology is no longer confined to IT departments, nor should it be. But leaders must remember that embedding technology into the culture of a business requires having a shared vision in place that all tech implementations can ladder back up towards.
With this one clear objective across the business, employees are empowered to suggest solutions that align with the business’s overarching objectives, meaning organizations can unleash one of their greatest assets – employee experience and knowledge – in so many ways previously unavailable to them.
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
Alone fans should prepare for a change of scenery for its 12th run, as snow gives way to sand. Armed with basic necessities, a pack of 10 contestants look to survive the scorching heat of Africa. Read on for how to watch Alone season 12 online from anywhere with a VPN.
Premiere: Thursday, June 12 at 9pm (ET)
TV channel: History
Stream: History.com (day after) | Sling TV (US)
RoW Stream: StackTV (CA) | Stan (AU)
Use NordVPN to watch any stream
With the word 'thirst' appearing in two of the episode names of this 10-part season (see full schedule at the foot of this page), you immediately get the gist of what awaits the intrepid contestants heading to South Africa’s Great Karoo. The surroundings will be no less hostile than previous seasons, with vast expanses of snow and ice being swapped for hot, dry desert.
Outside of that, however, this is very much business as usual for Alone. A cast of 10 survivalists are dropped in the middle of nowhere, with just their wits, skills and barest of necessities. Whoever lasts the longest without either submitting or falling ill wins the jackpot prize of $500,000.
We’ve got all the information you need on where to watch Alone season 12 online and stream episodes no matter where in the world you are.
How to watch Alone season 12 online in the USUS viewers can watch Alone season 12 on History on Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT starting June 12.
Don’t have cable? Latest episodes can be streamed live via Sling TV through either its Orange or Blue plans. Prices start at $40 a month (Orange) and right now you can get 50% off the service.
Previous seasons of Alone are also available to stream on the Hulu (30-day free trial) streaming platform, but don't usually land there until a couple of months after the premiere.
Away from the US? Use a VPN to watch Alone season 12 from abroad.
How to watch Alone online from anywhere in the worldIf you’re traveling abroad when Alone season 12 airs, you’ll be unable to watch the show like you normally would due to annoying regional restrictions. Luckily, there’s an easy solution.
Downloading a VPN will allow you to stream 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.
Use a VPN to watch Alone from anywhere.
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How to watch Alone season 12 online in CanadaAlone season 12 is being shown on History on Canadian TV, just like south of the border. The only difference is that it will go out at the slightly later time of 10pm ET/PT on Thursdays.
To watch Alone online, you can access History programming through the Global TV app. You'll just need your cable login details to do so.
Alternatively, you'll need subscription video streaming package StackTV. Probably the easiest way to get access to StackTV is through Amazon Prime Video. If you already have Prime, signing up to StackTV costs $14.99 a month after you've enjoyed the 7-day free trial.
From there, you can then watch on all the usual devices through which you'd normally watch Prime Video. So that's on web browsers, app for Android and iOS, Fire TV and a variety of other devices including PS4, PS5, Xbox, Roku and select Smart TVs.
Can I watch Alone season 12 online in the UK?Alone season 12 will likely be shown on Sky History and the History Play channel on Amazon Prime Video in the UK – but not yet. Last year, season 11 began airing a couple of months after episodes went out in the US. So you might be waiting until August before you can start watching Alone season 12.
Visiting the UK and wanting to watch Alone Season 12? A good VPN will let US and Canadian residents access their usual streaming service effortlessly.
How to watch Alone season 12 online in AustraliaTo stream Alone season 12 in Australia, you'll need a Stan subscription. Episodes will land on Fridays, with the first one available on June 13.
Stan subscriptions costs from $12 a month for a Basic plan, with incremental increases if you want to add HD/4K quality and additional devices.
Or if you’re visiting Australia from abroad and want to watch on your home service, simply download a VPN to stream Alone season 12 just as you would back home.
Alone season 12 trailerAlone season 12 cast- Pablo Arguelles
- Colton Gilman
- Will Lamb
- Kelsey Loper
- Baha Mahmutov
- Douglas S. Meyer
- Dug North
- Nathan Olsen
- Jit Patel
- Katie Rydge
Season 12 of Alone is scheduled for 10 episodes, which is two fewer than in season 11. Below are the air dates in North America:
- Episode 1 – "The Land of Great Thirst": Thursday, June 12
- Episode 2 – "Best Laid Plans": Thursday, June 19
- Episode 3 – "Thirst Trap": Thursday, June 26
- Episode 4 – "Finding a Foothold": Thursday, July 10
- Episode 5 – “The Tempest": Thursday, July 17
- Episode 6 – “Purpose": Thursday, July 24
- Episode 7 – "Echoes of Emptiness”: Thursday, July 31
- Episode 8 – "Weak Spot": Thursday, August 7
- Episode 9 – "The Promised Land": Thursday, August 14
- Episode 10 – "No Regrats": Thursday, August 21
No, not right now. You can stream season 12 of Alone on the History channel via Sling TV.
VPN services are evaluated and tested by us in view of legal recreational use. For example:a) Access to services from other countries, (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).b) Safeguarding your online security and making your online privacy more robust when abroad.Future plc does not support nor condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. We do not endorse nor approve of consuming pirated content that is paid-for.