Cubase 6 was announced last week. We're looking forward to the upgrade. The Studio version is no longer an option, but the upgrade from Cubase Studio 5 is under $200.

Update: Just ordered on 20110705

Apple's iPad 2.0 will not feature a 2048 by 1536 screen as rumored. See the PCWorld report. Apple will begin mass production of the iPad 2 by the end of February according to Digitimes, a Taiwanese trade publication. Maybe we'll hold off buying one until April or May because a dual-core graphics chip capable of playing 1080p HD video would be a nice feature!

Picked up a 12oz canister of  Trader Joe's Ultra Dark French Roast Coffee. Wow! Very strong, dark, and oily. Tons of aroma and flavor. Excellent when blended with hazelnut

Also looked at a Lifecore R100 rowing machine. They run about $1300.

The next generation of Intel Core processor scores high in the Passmark benchmark. With the reduction in pricing of memory, CPUs, and motherboards, the speed-versus-value of a complete system is improving dramatically.

Presently, we're measuring performance for a new studio system configuration. The orange spot on the diagram below is the speed and value measurement of our latest digital audio workstation powered by an overclocked Xeon W3520. The red spot is the speed and value measurement of a new configuration powered by a next gen, overclocked Core i7-2600K. Comparatively, the prospective system is 51% faster than the system we purchased in August! Value is computed as the Passmark score divided by system price. Again, comparatively, the prospective system scores a 90% improvement. The blue dots are other Intel and AMD systems for comparison. The two blue dots scoring the highest speed (above 12000) are systems powered by an overclocked Core i7 980X. Of course, it's challenging to configure a low-cost, quiet system using this rather expensive CPU.

FYI...The prospective i7-2600K DAW configuration presently prices out at $926.

Mobo ASUS P8P67-M PRO $149.99
ODD ASUS Black 24X $19.99
RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB $89.99
CPU Intel Core i7-2600K $329.99
HSF COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 $29.99
HDD WD6401AALS 640GB $64.99
GPU ASUS EN8400GS Silent $34.99
Case Antec Mini P180 White $79.99
PSU COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 $99.99
Fans 2x Nexus PWM Series D12SL-12PWM $25.98

New Addition: We picked up a Capresso coffee burr grinder (model 559) from Costco for $30. It does a modest job at producing a fine grind. To overcome the grind inconsistency, we discovered a large sifter comes in handy to strain out the larger remnants from the grounds. The few remaining remnants can be dropped back into the upper hopper for regrinding later. With the extra sifting process, this grinder produces outstanding flavor - better than Starbucks! BTW, we load about 16g of beans at a time.