This is something for all you sports fanatics who can't bear to miss a single highlight. Just as TiVo revolutionized television by allowing viewers to rewind and fast-forward live programs, a "game highlights analyzer" called MagicSports 3 speeds things even further by filtering through games and identifying the action.
The software allows fans to record baseball games on their PCs and "will automatically identify highlights ranging from pitches to home runs, then add thumbnail images of each high point at the bottom of the screen for quick review and access," according to its manufacturer, CyberLink. It claims that an average baseball game can be analyzed in 10 minutes, with 95 to 98 percent accuracy. It's unclear, however, how the company arrived at that assessment; and what if the big play of the game falls into that remaining 2 or 5 percent?
Still, it's better than wading through hours of boring footage that eats up your hard drive. We're not sure how Major League Baseball will view this use of its copyrighted material, but we're fairly certain that its advertisers won't be happy. Which, by definition, probably means it's something consumers will like.
(Photo: CyberLink)