With growing discussions around tighter regulations and potential restrictions on VPN use in the UK, many businesses are already seeking alternatives to avoid getting caught in the crackdown. Proxies have quickly become the go-to solution for those who need reliable access to geo-restricted content or want to maintain control over their digital footprint without facing possible restrictions.

From emerging trends and consumer behaviors to potential risks, external data allows companies to gain a holistic view of the market. Access to data and tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted how businesses make strategic decisions, using data to accelerate business growth and operational efficiency.

Read on as we uncover how companies have seen measurable results and increased revenue, as well as the top red flags to watch out for.

Artificial Intelligence powers everything from chatbots to complex data analysis tools. But behind the sleek interfaces and impressive capabilities lies a hidden process – the petabytes of data collected. We sat down with our CEO, Vytautas Savickas, to discuss the AI revolution and how data is being collected to fuel various tools.

In 2006, British mathematician Clive Humby coined the phrase "data is the new oil." He pointed out that "much like oil, data holds significant value," meaning that big data’s potential remains untapped without proper structure and refinement. Over the next 18 years, more companies started collecting large amounts of data to get a bird’s eye view of the competition, unlock new growth opportunities, and explore the ever-changing user behavior. And in the AI era, more businesses are exploring the ability to employ robots to do their time-wasting data collection tasks.

Only 2% of discounted products are cheapest on Black Friday, but why are so many people still crazed about buying something? Since the first big Black Friday, this shopping festival got the tag as the best day to buy various items in brick-and-mortar and online stores. However, with record sales every year and growing competition, retailers have started to employ advanced strategies during this shopping season, making many of these deals not as valuable as they might appear.

Web scraping extracts data from websites using automated tools. It's become a standard practice for businesses gathering competitive intelligence, training AI models, and building data-driven products. But the big question remains – is web scraping legal? The answer depends on what you scrape, how you scrape it, where the data comes from, and what you do with it next.

When we scale businesses, do research, or just scroll leisurely, it's always a good idea to be clued up on online security. Whatever your reasons for running your eyes over a web browser are, anonymity and privacy are two pretty important players here. The thing is that any browser, website, system, or network can see our IP address. Some of them might even log your IP address and track it. In this blog post, we’ll go over the dangers of using free software, fake IPs, and the illegal aspects of using IP information.

Last year, we launched the industry's first Most Scraped Websites report, which examined the platforms most widely utilized as data sources and identified key trends in publicly available data collection. This year's edition reveals how increased demand for AI tools, agents, and LLMs has driven companies to diversify their data sources, reshaping the landscape of most-targeted platforms.

As the biggest shopping festival of the year approaches, a dynamic shift occurs across thousands of online storefronts. Prices fluctuate by the hour, algorithms compete for consumer attention, and shoppers equip themselves with AI-powered price trackers and browser extensions. Black Friday has grown from a single-day shopping event into a months-long strategic tango between retailers and increasingly savvy consumers.

An exclusive analysis by web data company Decodo of 150K+ price observations across 37 major US eCommerce retailers, tracked throughout the year, reveals the complex strategies both sides deploy. The data paints a picture of a retail ecosystem in constant flux, where timing, category selection, and pricing algorithms can mean the difference between a genuine deal and clever marketing tricks.

If you're comparing Smartproxy and Decodo, here's the most important thing to know – it’s the same company, just under a brand new name. This isn't a comparison between competitors, it's a guide to understanding how Smartproxy evolved into Decodo, bringing you enhanced capabilities while maintaining everything that made us the best value provider in the market.