Review: Kuroko no Basket Season 2 Episode 3

Tonight Kuroko no Basket Season 2 Episode 3 aired! Crunchyroll lists it as Episode 28 instead, so you can look for that when you want to watch it.

The Episode is titled "START!" and just from the name we know that it is the beginning of what everyone has been waiting for - The Winter Cup. Well not really the winter cup but it is the beginning of the preliminary matches which will result in 2 teams entering the Winter Cups.

The Episode is all about Kiyoshi Teppei , we get to know his way of playing basketball and a little about his past. We are told that (Minor Spoiler), he belonged to the team who were feared almost as much as The Generation of Miracles back in their time of youth. Kiyoshi's skills are put to test when Seirin plays against a team in the preliminary match. Though that team is entirely useless against Kiyoshi. Not only does Seirin win the match but completely destroys them with a good difference in the number of baskets, most baskets scored by Kiyoshi and Hyuga. The episode ends with a basket score by Kagami, who did not do anything in the game until now or more like he need not do anything in the game since Kiyoshi had everything under control.

At last, we see a message of some type saying how Kagami has reached the level of the members of The Generation of Miracles. This message appears after we see the last basket by Kagami with the help of his inhuman high jump. The Generation of Miracles is now kind aware of the fact that someone has caught upto them. At this point we see a screen with the faces of all the members (As shown below) while still hiding the face of Akashi since he has yet to make a proper appearance in the Anime.

Overall the episode was focused on Kiyoshi only but it has also noted the start of the most awaited, Winter Cup. 8 teams entered the Preliminaries and after today's episode if we don't see the remaining matches then only 4 teams will remain one of which is Seirin. The next match will be between those 4 teams and the 2 winning teams will enter the Winter Cup thus we are only 1 more match away between Seirin and one of the other 3 winning teams, after that we will all the great teams show their skills in the Winter Cup itself!

Rating: 
Did the episode live up to expectations? Was all the hype for the episode before it was aired worth it?
In short, YES!
The episode marked an start of Winter Cup and showed us a lot of information on Kiyoshi but not only that, it also somewhat declared that Kagami has reached upto the Generation of Miracles at this point and so for all these reasons there is no way to say that the episode was bad, it gets a 9/10 from me only because I was not happy about the music used in the 2nd half of the episode. Season 1 had amazing music, compared to that the 2nd season is lacking bits of that awesomeness but guess it is only a preference and some might love the music in 2nd season over the first one! So go ahead, watch it on Crunchyroll, own it on dvd when it comes out and your money will all feel worth it!

Next Up - Hajime no Ippo: Rising Review and First Impression

Steam updates - true story!

True Story - this is how steam "updates" take place.

Does SSD need defragging and how does HDD work

How does HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Work ?

In order for you to understand what defragmentation is and how it works, you must first understand how HDD (Hard Disk Drive) works. Lets take a look inside of the HDD:

Inside of HDD (This pic is not made by me, so it may have some false terms)

Ok what you need to know:

1. Platter is where your data is written / stored on.

2. Actuator arm (i call it magnetic arm) is what writes the data onto platter using a very powerful magnet.

3. Actuator (this is powerful magnet, i took few out from old HDDs and if you have 2 of them it has enough power to break your skin if you pinch your skin between them. That power is focused into the head of the slider's head (that's how data is written onto platter)

4. As you can see, magnetic arm is on axis (actuator axis) so it can move on the platter (it floats over the platter, not touching it)

5. Each time data needs to be written or read from/to HDD, the magnetic arm will move onto right position to write/read the data.
6. HDD starts to write data from inside out (maybe some hdd do it other way around, but i doubt). Meaning it fills the inner circle of platter first, then moves onto next line...etc

Right, now that you know how HDD works, lets move on!

What is defragmentation / defragging ?

Now that you know how HDD works we take a look what is fragmented data, how and why it occurs and what exactly defragmentation does to improve your HDD speed and life.

Best way to explain what fragmentation is, how it occurs and how defragging can help, is to look at the next picture:

Visualization of Fragmented HDD (this pic is not made by me)

1. Blue / purple bits represent empty space

2. Orange bits are currently in use by some application

3. 2 Olive green (yellow-green) bits on right are unmoveable data (usually some system data that is always in use and cannot be moved without removing HDD from PC)

4. Green bits on bottom to right belong to one application and are not fragmented.

5. Red bits belong to one application and are fragmented all over the place.

What does does it all mean?

1. If program is not fragmented (like the green bits), then magnetic arm does not have to move to read it, HDD platter simply spins and magnetic arm remains in same location, just reading the bits in a simple row.

2. However if program is fragmented all over the HDD, like the red bits, then imagine what will happen if magnetic arm tries to read the program from HDD platter? See the point already? If fragmented data needs to be read from HDD, it results in many magnetic arm's movements, therefore significally slowing down the read process.
Also this reduces the lifespan of HDD, because any type of movement = wearing. So the more magnetic arm moves, the more it wears obviously.

So defragmented HDD will perform faster and better than fragmented HDD

Does SSD need to be defragmented / defragged ?

Short answer, NO!

You do not need to defrag SSD (Solid State Drive).

Why?

Because SSD (Solid State Drive) does not work like HDD, you do know what a USB stick is right?

It's pretty much the same, just a lot faster than USB sticks.

In short, flash memory works pretty much the same way as HDD (data is being stored onto a microchip instead of platter), however there are no moving parts, meaning that data can be read/written onto/from any location without any type of movement or speed reduction.

In flash memory instead of magnetic force, electricity is being used to store data. it is complicated process, but in short, you can visualize it the same way as magnetic arm writing data onto HDD platter (just no moving parts, it is done by straight up wiring to the location)

So SSD has no moving parts (this is why its Solid State), therefore it makes absolutely no difference in what location data has been stored, because it can be accessed instantly without any type of movement, so defragging of SSD is just waste of time, in fact it reduces the lifespan of SSD, so don't do it.

Why?

Because SSDs can be used only limited time to write data onto it, for example if you take HDD and SSD and constantly write data onto them (lets take security camera system for example, where camera overwrites the previous data on HDD when full), then SSD will fail a lot sooner than HDD, HDDs can last 10 years easy, i have some HDD's from like 2005 or so and they still going strong.

Most nowday SSDs don't just fail, they just reduce in size, they will know if they have flash cells that have failed, so they mark it as failed and data will never be written there again and SSD reports the max size little bit smaller than it is, so SSD will probably last easy 10 years, but size will be reduces. I've had mine over a year and haven't noticed any reduction at all (and i use my PC every day, for at about 5 - 20h a day).

How do i defrag my HDD  / Best way of defragging ?

I recommend using "Auslogic Disk Defrag", it is very easy to use and does good job. I do not recommend using any software that comes with your hardware (hdd, motherboard, whole pc or with windows), those are crap.

Auslogic is free to use, simply type "Auslogic Disk Defrag" into google and im sure you'll find it, or get it from filehippo.com

Grand Theft Auto V / GTA 5 Cheat Codes for PS3

Here are all the known Grand Theft Auto V / GTA 5 Cheats (Cheat Codes) for PlayStation3 (PS3)
If you know any cheat codes that are 100% working and not listed here, leave a comment, i will check and update if it's true.

Character / Player Related

Ability Recharge	X, X, X, R1, L1, X, Right, Left, X
Explosive Bullets	Right, Square, X, Left, R1, R2, Left, Right, Right, L1, L1, L1
Flaming Bullets	L1, R1, Square, R1, Left, R2, R1, Left, Square, Right, L1, L1
Drunk Mode	Triangle, Right, Right, Left, Right, Square, Circle, Left
Explosive Melee	Right, Left, X, Triangle, R1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L2
Fast Run	Triangle, Left, Right, Right, L2, L1, Square
Fast Swim	Left, Left, L1, Right, Right, R2, Left, L2, Right
Invincibility	Right, X, Right, Left, Right, R1, Right, Left, X, Triangle
Max Health and Armor	Circle, L1, Triangle, R2, X, Square, Circle, Right, Square, L1, L1, L1
Lower Wanted Level	R1, R1, Circle, R2, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left
Raise Wanted Level	R1, R1, Circle, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right
Slow Motion Aim (x3)	Square, L2, R1, Triangle, Left, Square, L2, Right, X
Super Jump	Left, Left, Triangle, Triangle, Right Right, Left, Right, Square, R1, R2

Notes:

* Flaming and Explosive bullets can be used at same time.
* Invincibility is only for 5 minutes (you will see timer on bottom right corner)

* Slow Motion aim enables 3 times, each time it goes slower, 4th time is to disable.

Vehicle Spawning

BMX	Left, Left, Right, Right, Left, Right, Square, Circle, Triangle, R1, R2
Buzzard	Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L1, L2, R1, Triangle, Circle, Triangle
Caddy	Circle, L1, Left, R1, L2, X, R1, L1, Circle, X
Comet	R1, Circle, R2, Right, L1, L2, X, X, Square, R1
Cropduster	Right, Left, R1, R1, R1, Left, Triangle, Triangle, X, Circle, L1, L1
Limo	R2, Right, L2, Left, Left, R1, L1, Circle, Right
PCJ-600	R1, Right, Left, Right, R2, Left, Right, Square, Right, L2, L1, L1
Rapid GT	R2, L1, Circle, Right, L1, R1, Right, Left, Circle, R2
Sanchez	Circle, X, L1, Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, R1, R2, L2, L1, L1
Stunt Plane	Circle, Right, L1, L2, Left, R1, L1, L1, Left, Left, X, Triangle
Trashmaster	Circle, R1, Circle, R1, Left, Left, R1, L1, Circle, Right

Weapons and Parachute

Parachute	Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, R2, Left, Left, Right, L1
Weapons (Tier 1)	Triangle, R2, Left, L1, X, Right, Triangle, Down, Square, L1, L1, L1

Weapons:

- Sawed off shotgun

- Sniper Rifle

- Assault Rifle

- SMG

- Pistol

- Grenade

- RPG

- Knife

World / Environment

Change Weather	R2, X, L1, L1, L2, L2, L2, Square
Moon Gravity	Left, Left, L1, R1, L1, Right, Left, L1, Left
Skyfall	L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right
Slow Motion	Triangle, Left, Right, Right, Square, R2, R1

Notes:

* Weather will cycle thru the possible weather conditions with each time you enter the code.

* Skyfall spawns you into air (above your location), so its not a good idea to use this without parachute.

* Slow Motion can be activated 4 times, each time it goes slower, 5th time to disable.

Warning - Usage of any of the cheat codes will disable trophies / achievements and you cannot use cheats during missions. If you want to earn trophies again, you must restart your game (press PS button, Quite game and then start game again).