SAP's cloud computing push stalls in Asia

By Harro Ten Wolde

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - SAP AG's Asian business stumbled at the start of 2013 when top sales managers left the business software company, giving rivals an edge just as customers were switching from hardware to cloud computing.

The German company vowed to get its Asia Pacific business back on track after the problems pushed its first-quarter earnings and revenue below analyst forecasts. Its shares fell 2.8 percent on Friday.

SAP and rivals such as IBM and Oracle are dashing to meet surging demand for cloud computing, which allows clients to reduce costs by ditching bulky and costly servers for network-based software and storage in remote data centers.

With the cloud services market forecast to grow 18.5 percent this year to $131 billion worldwide, according to research firm Gartner, competition is fierce and software firms face a challenge to adapt.

"We had some leadership changes in the region. That is why we saw some misses in the quarter," said SAP's co-Chief Executive Jim Hagemann Snabe.

He promised the Asia Pacific region would be back on track in the second quarter as the sales pipeline looked good and important sales positions were now taken care of.

SAP shares were down 2.8 percent at 57.95 euros by 0932 GMT, while a broader index of European technology companies was down 0.7 percent.

The biggest disappointment in SAP's quarterly results was SAP's performance in the Asia Pacific Japan region (APJ), said Stacy Pollard, an analyst at JP Morgan.

Its software and cloud subscription revenue there declined 7 percent, lagging the Americas, where revenue jumped 49 percent, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it grew 13 percent.

"While weakness from other software and IT services names over the last month had already pushed down expectations (and the SAP share price), we would still expect another 3 to 4 percent correction to shares today," Pollard said.

TRANSFORMATION

SAP software helps companies to manage supplies, human resources and customers relations. It is reducing its reliance on traditional business software to become a major player in cloud computing.

Snabe said the industry was transforming as customers turned to web-based software products.

"Hardware is in trouble," he told Reuters Insider.

SAP faces competition in Internet-based software from IBM and Oracle and nimbler rivals like Salesforce.com Inc and Workday Inc. It spent $7.7 billion last year to buy Internet-based computing companies Ariba and SuccessFactors.

Its main competitor, Oracle, reported a 2 percent drop in software sales in its fiscal third-quarter ended in February.

SAP said it had snatched market share from Oracle and others as customers turn to cloud services, which are seen as less vulnerable to the global economic downturn as there are no upfront costs for program licenses, hardware or installation.

SAP said it still expected operating profit this year to be 5.85 billion to 5.95 billion euros ($7.65-7.78 billion) at constant currencies, up 12-14 percent from 5.21 billion in 2012.

"Given the ... weak results from competitors, we would not overemphasize the first-quarter results," said Oliver Finger, an analyst at DZ Bank, who rates the stock a "buy". "Moreover, the first quarter is traditionally the least important quarter for SAP and the company remains confident overall."

SAP's first-quarter operating profit excluding special items rose 8 percent to 901 million euros, missing an average forecast of 968 million in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Revenue was also up 8 percent at 3.64 billion euros, but missed even the most pessimistic estimate in the Reuters poll, where individual estimates ranged from 3.73 to 3.9 billion.

(Editing by Christoph Steitz and Tom Pfeiffer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/saps-cloud-computing-push-stalls-asia-100555577--sector.html

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Tuning in: Twitter launches music feature

NEW YORK (AP) ? Twitter has launched a service for people to find music they like and tweet songs from iTunes, Spotify and Rdio.

Twitter said in a blog post that an app will be available for download from Apple's online store Thursday. A Web version is also expected Thursday. Twitter said the service will eventually be available on Android devices as well.

The service uses information from Twitter chatter to find popular tracks as well as new artists. Users who follow musicians can see what artists those musicians follow and listen to songs by them.

Thursday's announcement about a music service had been expected. "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest tweeted about it last week. It's called (hash)music, following Twitter's practice of using hashtags to organize tweets around topics.

The music service's debut comes less than three months after the release of a Twitter video app called Vine that distributes six-second clips that can be played in a continuous loop.

The expansion into other forms of media besides text and photos is part of Twitter's effort to make its messaging service even more appealing to its more than 200 million monthly users. More frequent usage of the service creates more opportunities to show ads ? the main way that Twitter makes money.

The foray into music could open up a new channel of revenue as well. Apple Inc.'s iTunes pays partners a few cents for every song sale that is a direct result of an online referral. If Twitter's recommendations persuade enough people to buy songs after hearing excerpts, these bounties could add up.

As with many of the other tools that it has added since its inception seven years ago, Twitter bought the technology powering its music app from a startup. In this case, the music app is based on a concept and tools honed by We Are Hunted, which shut down its site for tracking popular music last week.

Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, is winning over advertisers, who typically must package their marketing messages in 140-character characters so that they fit seamlessly into the rest of the rapid-fire chatter flowing through users' feeds.

The company's worldwide ad revenue this year is expected to more than double to $583 million, up from $283 million last year. As a private company, Twitter doesn't disclose details about its financial performance.

That could change soon, though. There is mounting speculation that Twitter is expanding its services and selling ads more aggressively in preparation for an initial public offering of stock that could come late this year or early next year. If that were to happen, it would be the hottest technology IPO since Facebook went public nearly a year ago.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has repeatedly said that the company isn't under any pressure to go public because it has raised ample financing from investors, including a $400 million injection from venture capitalists in July 2011.

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Online:

http://blog.twitter.com/2013/04/now-playing-twitter-music.html

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tuning-twitter-launches-music-feature-134324215.html

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Economics student takes out Republican debt talking point

By Edward Krudy

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Thomas Herndon, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's doctoral program in economics, spotted possible errors made by two eminent Harvard economists in an influential research paper, he called his girlfriend over for a second look.

As they poured over the spreadsheets Herndon had requested from Harvard's Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, which formed the basis for a widely quoted 2010 study, they spotted what they believed were glaring errors.

"I almost didn't believe my eyes when I saw just the basic spreadsheet error," said Herndon, 28. "I was like, am I just looking at this wrong? There has to be some other explanation. So I asked my girlfriend, 'Am I seeing this wrong?'"

His girlfriend, Kyla Walters, replied: "I don't think so Thomas."

In the world of economic luminaries, it doesn't get much bigger than Reinhart and Rogoff, whose work has had enormous influence in one of the biggest economic policy debates of the age.

Both have served at the International Monetary Fund. Reinhart was a chief economist at investment bank Bear Stearns in the 1980s, while Rogoff worked at the Federal Reserve, passing through Yale and MIT before landing at Harvard.

Their study, which found economic growth slows dramatically when a government's debt exceeds 90 percent of a country's annual economic output, has been cited by policymakers around the world as justification for slashing spending.

Former U.S. vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, is one influential politician who has cited the report to justify a budget slashing agenda.

Using the two professors' data, Herndon found that instead of a dramatic fall in growth, the decline was much milder, slowing to about 2.2 percent, instead of the slump to minus 0.1 percent that Reinhart and Rogoff predicted.

Things tend to move at a glacial pace in the world of academic research papers, but within 24 hours Herndon and his two teachers, who co-authored the report, Michael Ash and Robert Pollin, found themselves swept up in a global debate.

Herndon's paper began life as a replication exercise for a term paper in a graduate econometrics class. He expected to replicate Reinhart and Rogoff's results, then challenge the idea that high public debt caused growth to slow.

But he never got that far. Repeated failures to replicate the results roused his interest. Pollin and Ash encouraged him to pursue it after he convinced them he was onto something.

"At first, I didn't believe him. I thought, 'OK he's a student, he's got to be wrong. These are eminent economists and he's a graduate student,'" Pollin said. "So we pushed him and pushed him and pushed him, and after about a month of pushing him I said, 'Goddamn it, he's right.'"

Herndon approached Reinhart and Rogoff earlier this year for the spreadsheets they used in their paper. The two professors provided them at the start of April, unlocking the mysteries of the data that had stumped Herndon.

Herndon said only 15 of the 20 countries in the report had been used in the average. He also said Reinhart and Rogoff used only one year of data for New Zealand, 1951, when growth was minus 7.6 percent, significantly skewing the results.

Reinhart and Rogoff have admitted to a "coding error" in the spreadsheet that meant some countries were omitted from their calculations. But the economists denied they selectively omitted data or that they used a questionable methodology.

For Ash, the findings mean the claim that high public debt causes growth to stall no longer holds water.

"Their central thesis has been substantially weakened," he said.

Reinhart and Rogoff, however, say their conclusion that there is a correlation between high debt and slow growth still holds.

"It is sobering that such an error slipped into one of our papers despite our best efforts to be consistently careful," they said in a joint statement. "We do not, however, believe this regrettable slip affects in any significant way the central message of the paper or that in our subsequent work."

Now that Herndon has ably crossed swords with some of the most eminent figures in his field, he is thinking about expanding his work into a Ph.D. thesis.

(Reporting By Edward Krudy; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/student-took-eminent-economists-debt-issue-won-095347790--business.html

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Modern Family Star Sofia Vergara Talks Pregnancy Tips: 'I Kept My ...

Sofia Vergara admits she has frozen her eggs with a view to starting a family with fiance Nicholas Loeb.

The 40-year-old actress is open to the possibility of having a second child with businessman Nicholas ? who proposed to Sofia last July ? and is already preparing for that eventuality by freezing her own eggs.

Speaking to ABC News, Modern family star Sofia ? already a parent to 21-year-old son Manolo from a previous marriage to childhood sweetheart Joe Gonzalez ? admitted that her husband-to-be was getting broody.

?I just wanted to plan ahead,? she told ABC News. ?My boyfriend Nicky is three years younger than me, and he's never had a son. I have my son, Manolo, so it's not an emergency for me to have another kid, but for Nicky, he's never had a baby.?

Unconventional: Sofia has frozen her eggs (WENN)

The Columbian star revealed she had already consulted a fertility specialist about freezing her eggs ? partly because of encroaching middle-age and the likelihood of having another child when she is well into her forties.

?Nothing happens that naturally any more,? she conceded. ?I wanted to take advantage of science. Why not??

But how far along is the process? According to Sofia, it's well underway.

?Oh, I took them out already!? she said. ?They're in the refrigerator. Hopefully, they'll be fresh by the time I use them.?

Proud mum: Sofia is already a mother to 21-year-old son Manolo (Splash News)

The actress ? whose Modern Family character gave birth to a second child earlier this year ? had previously opened up about her fertility plans to the April Issue of Vogue, prior to having her eggs removed.

?They (the doctors) want to get as many good eggs as they can because usually you produce them but they're not good,? she said. ?They have to be perfect, perfect, perfect ones.?

With the possibility of a new baby a future priority, Sofia admits she has more immediate concerns with her son, who attends school in Boston ? where three people lost their lives in bomb blasts during the Boston Marathon on Monday (April 15).

?I was very fortunate my son had come on the train to New York to visit his girlfriend (this weekend),? she said. ?He immediately texted me because she knows I can get crazy. It's unbelievable. It's heartbreaking. So much unnecessary pain. Hopefully they can overcome this horrible thing.?

Source: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/111929/Modern-Family-Star-Sofia-Vergara-Talks-Pregnancy-Tips-I-Kept-My-Eggs-In-The-Freezer

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Russian PM Medvedev defends record after Putin warning

By Timothy Heritage

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev defended his government's record in a combative speech to parliament on Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin signaled he may be losing patience with his long-time ally.

There has been speculation for months in the media and among political analysts that Putin, now 60, could make Medvedev a scapegoat if Russia's economy continues to decline.

Medvedev hit back after unauthorized video footage showed Putin threatening to sack unnamed senior officials over a failure to implement his social spending plans - for which responsibility ultimately lies with Medvedev's government.

Putin had just told the cameras to stop rolling at a meeting with regional officials and government ministers, and his angry, unguarded remarks revived months of speculation that he has lost confidence in Medvedev.

Medvedev, 47, who has been prime minister since last May, asked for parliament's support in a long-planned report on his government's work that lasted an hour and 45 minutes.

"We live in a dynamic, fast-developing world. It is so global and so complex that we sometimes cannot keep up with the changes," he said, acknowledging that Russia could be dragged into recession if global commodity prices keep falling.

"On the other hand, we live in a society that offers huge opportunities. So I hope that ... Russia tomorrow will be a country that is strong and comfortable to live in."

In a rallying cry to parliament, he called for unity and respect for his government's work.

But, deepening his problems, Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov criticized Medvedev's performance and said he should "draw the conclusions". The Just Russia party threatened to call a no-confidence vote if Russia sinks into recession.

Medvedev would have every chance of surviving such a vote, because the State Duma, the lower house, is dominated by his and Putin's United Russia's party. But retaining Putin's support is vital for his political future.

Medvedev said he had plans for improving the economy, which is heavily reliant on exports of oil and gas, but gave few details, reiterating his refusal to raise the pension age and saying he would not sell off state assets cheaply.

He said Russia risked sliding into recession because of falling commodity prices, and that the government would consider other stimulus measures to push growth closer to the target rate of 5 percent this year if an economic slowdown continued.

Last year the economy grew 3.4 percent, and last week the government cut its growth target for 2013 to 2.4 percent.

LONG-TERM PARTNERS

Putin and Medvedev have been allies since working together in the St Petersburg city administration in the 1990s, and swapped jobs last May after Putin won a third term as president after four years as prime minister.

In the footage, published online shortly before Medvedev started his speech to parliament, and later shown by state television, a stern-looking Putin called for more action to fulfill pledges he has made on social spending to improve the lives of millions of Russians.

Putin had made the promises as he tried to win back support after the biggest protests of his long rule.

"If we don't do it, we will need to acknowledge that either I work inefficiently or you work badly and you will need to resign," he told Tuesday's meeting in the footage published by the Lifenews.ru website, which has close ties with the Kremlin.

"I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I am currently inclined towards the second scenario."

Putin's press secretary denied the president was referring to sacking the government but the remarks were widely seen as a warning. The Kremlin's anger over the footage - Lifenews said it had been barred from the presidential pool - also underlined the sensitivity of Putin's comments.

A professionally produced video by an anonymous filmmaker, posted on YouTube earlier this year, used archive footage and apparently recent interviews to present Medvedev as weak and ready to surrender Russian interests to a conniving United States. The word "treason" is uttered by a narrator.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is among the list of potential replacements for Medvedev, but Putin has a record of loyalty to his long-standing allies and many political observers say he would remove Medvedev only reluctantly. A significant change of policy would be unlikely as this is dictated by Putin.

(Additional reporting by Alexei Anishchuk)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-pm-medvedev-defends-record-putin-warning-132028571--business.html

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Senate vote nears, background check bill in peril

	Essential News from The Associated Press

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Bill Rancic: 'I was rejected' by Giuliana early on

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

Bill and Giuliana Rancic have gone through more highs and lows in the past two years than many married couples ever have to deal with: A double mastectomy when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, and the birth of their son Edward Duke via surrogacy in 2012. But based on their first date, it all could have gone a very different way.

"I tried to make the first move," recalled Bill during a visit to with TODAY's Natalie Morales on Monday. "And I was rejected!"

"That was one of my rules -- no kiss for at least three dates," said Giuliana. "I didn't want to be the 'kissing bandit.'"

Fortunately, everything is now relatively smooth sailing (the twosome married in 2007), except when the phone rings -- Giuliana admitted she doesn't like to pick up, not knowing what the doctors might tell her next. "Bill takes the call," she said. "You never know what you're going to hear on the other end of the line, but Bill took the call and everything was fine."

The pair also showed off some photos of little Duke, largely featuring Bill toting him around. "Bill is a baby hog!" cried Giuliana. "He's in every picture, I'm in none.... I'm Bigfoot in our house -- there are two pictures of me ... and they're both blurry."

But clearly they love spending time together, because now they're hosts of NBC's new reality dating series "Ready for Love." And while the show's only been on a few weeks so far, they're ready to make a prediction: "We're predicting two of the three guys get married by the end of the show," said Bill.

And maybe there's something to that -- after all, the Rancics know a thing or two about beating the odds. "Ready for Love" airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/15/17760357-bill-rancic-says-dating-future-wife-giuliana-was-not-easy-i-was-rejected?lite

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