Anyone whose eyes hurt from rolling them whenever they watch detectives on CSI or Walker: Texas Ranger or Antiques Roadshow demand that some improbably clear-skinned IT underling “enhance this image” so they can get a closer look at the terrorist’s wristwatch or his neck tattoo will appreciate this montage.But while the enhance button remains the stuff of film fantasy, the promise of technology held out by Hollywood’s lazy and duplicitous screenwriters has been realized in part by researchers on projects like Microsoft’s Photosynth, which stiches together lots of images to create a big, enhance-friendly photo, and NASA’s VISAR. A report from way back in 2003 explains that “NASA researchers—using their expertise and equipment for analyzing satellite video—have created a new crime-fighting software tool called VISAR. Short for Video Image Stabilization and Registration, VISAR transforms dark, jittery images captured by security systems and video cameras in police cars into clear, stable images that can reveal clues about crimes. This new technology is expected to benefit medical research and improve home entertainment, too.”This isn’t the same thing as being able to zoom in 500 percent on that reflection in the mirror — a trope perhaps launched by Harrison Ford’s lengthy and near comical photo scrutiny in Blade Runner (which is strangely missing from this montage) — even if we’re still working on it. I think we’re all waiting for the day not only when law enforcement has this technology, but when we all have it on our 3d TVs. You know, so we can zoom in real close for a better look at those fake Minority Report computers in CSI: Dubai.