Slashdot Mirror
Sports Highlights via AI
nazarijo writes "Found via Brian Chin's Weblog, it looks like scientists and researchers at Microsoft are working on ways to automatically discover game highlights. This article in the New Scientist discusses several research groups, some in Europe, working to make these ideas a reality. Microsoft research is doing this, too, with highlights from the Mariner's shown as examples. A choice quote from the end of the MSR piece: 'By hitting the highlights of baseball games, we get to view only the best parts of multimedia life. And who knows what's next? Maybe political speeches will become shorter, or the eleven o'clock news will last only 5 minutes, the witty banter between news anchors edited out.'"
Maybe political speeches will become shorter, or the eleven o'clock news will last only 5 minutes, the witty banter between news anchors edited out.'
They have this now. It's called the internet. news.google.com is a great example. Pick the news that you want it, when you want it - without the witty banter!
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Apple had this "summarize" feature that was going to be incorporated into Sherlock that could take a document and "summarize" it in a few paragraphs. I remember it being uncannily good at picking out what the most important sentences from a document were. Like I remember in one demo they fed it the text of "hamlet" and it spit out about four lines of dialogue from various points in the play that actually did a pretty good job of highlighting what happens over the course of the play...
Unfortunately this feature was never given a proper interface and eventually kind of disappeared into the midst of time. What happened there?
dont mean to sound paranoid, but couldnt people controlling these systems control the media? people that could censor shit even more than it is today?
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You could probably pick out the highlights JUST from gauging crowd reaction, without once looking at what's happening on the field...
Usually during big plays and events worthy of next morning's [espn] sportscenter; the crowd usually gets extremely loud, in a short burst of time. They [software makers] could use this to their advantage, and record footage when the db level is above a certain amount, say 100 [give or take 15 secs.
John Jackson: "It's time someone had the courage to stand up and say: I'm against those things that everybody hates."
Jack Johnson: "Now, I respect my opponent. I think he's a good man. But quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said."
John Jackson: "I say your three cent titanium tax goes too far."
Jack Johnson: "And I say your three cent titanium tax doesn't go too far enough."
The owls are not what they seem
the eleven o'clock news will last only 5 minutes, the witty banter between news anchors edited out.
oh oh, this technology could wipe out the slashdot comments section entirely!
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
Ok, doesnt really make sense, but consider this. How many people want software deciding what is important to see and what is not? During WWII, if the ENIAC decided whether I was to recieve medical treatment on the battlefield over some other person, I would be quite pissed...even if I was chosen to recieve treatment.
Basically, I view this as another method of limiting something we are already freely available to do, based on our own will. Even if it is an opt-in thing, people will opt-in...and before you know it we will be a few drones watching only what companies want us to. Sound like Harrison Bergeron to me.
Dont get me wrong, this is a very cool technology, and I completely support the development of it. I just dont like the niche it is meant to fill. AKA, Media censoring.
Wait a second...did they say less political speech times? Holy crap! Less Bush! Where do I sign up!?!..........See my point?
Speaking at Defcon 12 - Credit Card Networks Revisted: Pen
"Yer out! Home run! Home run! Yer out! Yer out! Home run! Thank you, and goodnight!"
You must think in Russian.
I can totally see this helping with the never-stopping shrinking of attention span.
[This comment kept short so it can be read in less than 8 seconds]
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I could definately do without the witty banter on the news (yet another reason to get your news online from Google, the NY Times, the BBC, whomever), but I am greatly troubled by the idea that political speeches could get even shorter. Short political speeces are the worst aspect of politics in my opinion. Why deliver a twenty minute oratory that fully explores and explains your views on an issue, when you can just repeat some trite soundbyte that will fit into the alloted 20 seconds on the news? Seriously, have you ever listened to an entire political speech? I would say that fewer than 10% of people ever have. Those who have would tell you that most speeches are just jam-packed with soundbytes (they hate our freedom, etc.) rather than actual 'content.' It's because of the way we like to have information condensed and pre-chewed for us. Of course, if you're interested in something, you can always do the extra research to find out more about it, but who has the time?
I think that the politics problem extends, to a point, to sports as well. For example, I find watching baseball mercilessly boring, but I enjoy watching the highlights. But do I get all the nuances of the game or really learn anything about the players? No. I'm guessing that for most people this isn't a problem and that's why we're headed to the scenario outlined in the article. I just think it's too bad.
... turning to the 3-D map, we see an unmistakable con
Too bad all the Mariners highlights this year will probably be of the opposing team :/
This is easy, simply track what segments of the game everyone rewinds in Tivo. We know they can already do this! They anounce how many times Janets Breast was reviewed!
Microsoft and sports on Slashdot.. isn't that like an African american at a KKK meeting?
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Well if it doesn't exist yet, look for a cross between a bonzi buddy, clippy, desktop girl, asian chick, and windows narrator comming soon.
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And Asian chicks have a thing for you, too - it's called a restraining order.
Like baseball, I've always assumed that the length of a cricket match was one of the beloved features to its devotees. As baseball fanatic George Will has pointed out, baseball is the only major team sport without a clock.
If you cut a baseball game to its "highlights", you're really missing the game. I assume it must be the same way in cricket. It's gotta be, because the game utterly baffles me.
I saw this in Front Page Sports Football '95. The game would pick out 5 plays from each game and save them as highlights. This even worked for the games you simulated between computer-controlled teams. It was pretty predictable stuff, long passes and 1-yard runs for TDs. The computer had a real predilection for fumbles, though, which irked me. Once in a while you'd get an actual interesting one, like a trick play that worked, or career-ending injury. Heh. Career-ending injuries. Too bad that franchise went downhill fast after '95...a few years later they were refunding people's money because the company publically admitted they'd shipped a crappy product.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
cliff notes for real life:
Coming soon: "The 50 Minute Friendship" (highlights only) and "Best of Marriage" for the professional on the go (includes 40 hours of heart to hearts, 60 hours of distilled personal growth, and 260 minutes of orgasms)
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Isn't this a job much better accomplished by a person? A well trained person at that.
For example, on DirecTV, the NFL Sunday Ticket package delivered 3-5 minute highlights for every game. However, the highlights on NFL primetime (also about 3-5 minutes per game) were edited with so much more flare, personality, and smart analysis that there was no comparison. Same game, often the same shots, but the human factors made all the difference.
For events broadcast to wide audiences, why would you not want a talented editor to cut the footage? Is the technology going to be cheaper than a good editor? I doubt it.
From Simpsons 1F15:
At the KBBL studios, Bill and Marty's boss gives them a dressing-down.
Boss: Look, our ratings are down, and the station is being swamped
with angry calls and letter-bombs.
[A few letter-bombs explode in a pile]
And it's all your fault!
Bill: Yes it is, ma'am.
Boss: This is the DJ 3000. It plays CDs automatically, and it has
three distinct varieties of inane chatter.
[presses a button]
DJ 3000: [stilted] Hey, hey. How about that weather out there?
Woah! _That_ was the caller from hell.
Well, hot dog! We have a weiner.
Bill: Man, that thing's great!
Marty: _Don't_ praise the machine!
Boss: If you don't get that kid an elephant by tomorrow, the DJ 3000
gets your job.
[Marty punches it]
DJ 3000: Those clowns in congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
Bill: [laughs] How does it keep up with the news like that?
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Automatically picking out highlights? Cool.
But the "political speeches will become shorter" idea scares the hell out of me. Hiding behind an "artificially" intelligent program would be the perfect way for someone to censor broadcasted information to their own ends.
Glog!