Friday -- April 10, 2015; The New MacBook Available Today -- An iPad On Steroids?

Masters: after the first round --

• Spieth, -8
• Ernie Els (wow), -6
• Hoffman, -5
• Justin Rose, -5
• Jason Day, -5
• Russell Henley, -4
• Sergio Garcia, -4
• Bill Hass, -3

Others:

• Phil Mickelson, -2
• Zach Johnson, -1
• Tom Watson, -1
• Bubba Watson, -1
• Rory McIlroy, -1

You have to get to T41 before you find Tiger Woods, +2 (8 behind the leader)
Behind Tiger

• Jim Furyk
• Vijay Singh
• Fred Couples

Dead last, Ben Crenshaw, +19

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Active rigs:

	4/10/2015	04/10/2014	04/10/2013	04/10/2012	04/10/2011
Active Rigs	93	190	190	209	173

UND loses 5 - 3 to Boston University in Frozen Four.

Apple Watch pre-orders begin today.

Qualcomm announces healthy dividend increase.

Ayatollah casts doubt on nuclear accord.

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LNG Exports

Shell - BG will create giant operator of LNG ships. 

Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s planned $70 billion acquisition of BG Group PLC would create a giant operator of liquefied-natural-gas vessels, offering owners that charter the ships more opportunities for lucrative, long-term contracts in an otherwise-depressed shipping industry. 

Shipping is still trying to emerge from the lengthy down cycle that began in 2008, when the economic collapse dealt a blow to world trade. But now, the fall in oil prices and a shift by governments and energy producers to cleaner fuels like LNG is spurring demand for vessels moving such petroleum products. Meanwhile, freight rates for dry-bulk carriers, moving commodities like coal and iron ore, hover at 30-year lows due to excessive tonnage in the water and falling demand from major importers like China and India.

At around $200 million apiece, LNG carriers cost at least three times as much as other types of vessels of similar size. But while the market for ships such as container vessels, tankers and dry-bulk carriers is marred by overcapacity reaching up to 25% above demand, leading to unsustainable freight rates, LNG carriers are usually linked to lucrative contracts that range from five years to more than 10, raking in substantial earnings for their owners.

Energy producers like Shell and BG lease rather than own most of the ships moving their products, avoiding the risk of being stuck with nonperforming assets when the market goes sour. The two partners own a combined 12 LNG carriers and charter about 60. The leases go to a handful of trusted owners, generating around $75,000 a day for a ship that carries 160,000 cubic meters of LNG. The break-even point for such a ship is $50,000 at most.

From Seeking Alpha today:

• Australia Pacific LNG, the joint venture between ConocoPhillips, Sinopec, and local player Origin Energy, expects to begin loading tankers late in Q3 for sale to market participants as it seeks to place its first six months of production into already oversupplied spot markets.
• Within that commissioning phase of the project, exports are estimated at two to three cargoes per month, with seven to 10 cargoes planned by the end of the year.
• Attempting to get ahead of the coming surge from the start-up of Chevron's 15.6M metric tons/year Gorgon LNG plant in Australia in mid-2015 followed by Santos' 7.8M tons/year Gladstone facility, Australia Pacific LNG is said to be gauging interest from various buyers, particularly from India and China.

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Global PC shipments fall in first quarter (previously reported; different source). Apple finished third in the U.S. on Gartner’s list and fourth on IDC’s U.S. list.

Apple MacBook review in the WSJ: laptop of the future not ready for the present.

With this machine, available starting Friday, Apple has imagined a laptop reduced to its essentials—a sharp, insanely thin screen, a flattened keyboard panel and a magical new glass trackpad.

Removed from the wire-dependent past, all that remains on its edge are a jack for headphones and a single USB Type-C port.

But as ahead of its time as the MacBook is, there’s a slight problem: You have to use it right now.

Here in 2015, the majority of us still require two or three ports for connecting our hard drives, displays, phones and other devices to our computer—not to mention a dedicated power plug.

But even if you opt for the space gray or silver finishes, you’ll still get the most beautiful computer ever created. Much of that beauty has to do with just how insanely thin and light it is. At two pounds, and measuring just over a half-inch at its thickest, the MacBook feels more like an iPad with a crazy svelte keyboard. The all-metal machine feels quite sturdy, a good thing since you’ll be porting it around a lot... along with its 0.2-pound charging brick.

The MacBook’s real annoyances begin with that single USB Type-C port. Don’t get me wrong, this port itself is amazing. A new type of connector, it has bi-directional power, which means the same port is used to charge the laptop and to charge or connect to other peripherals like monitors or phones. It is also reversible, like the iPhone’s Lightning jack, so no more having to flip around the cord to make sure it plugs in. But living with just one port— especially one that doesn’t work with much yet—is painful.

For all the negative reviews the new MacBook is getting, it's already in short supply -- and it launches today.