Build a Better Netflix, Win a Million Dollars?

An anonymous reader writes "In a quest to better movie recommendations, Netflix is opening their database (nytimes, registration and first child required) to users to try to craft a better recommendation technology. The problem is not easy. Says one researcher: 'You're competing with 15 years of really smart people banging away at the problem.'" Recommender systems are really an interesting problem, and that is likely very interesting data to play with.

Comments

Simple

[Anonymous Coward]

if(user.getGender()==Person.MALE)
recomendation=MovieGenre.PORN;
else
recomendation=MovieGenre.CHICKFLICK;

And of course, slashdot must have sensed my post as my image word is "pervert"

Re:Simple

[kelzer]

Old Version:

if(user.getGender()==Person.MALE)
recomendation=MovieGenre.PORN;
else
recomendation=MovieGenre.CHICKFLICK;

New Version, sure to win the million bucks:

if(user.getGender()==Person.MALE && user.getOrientation()==Person.STRAIGHT)
recomendation=MovieGenre.PORN;
else
recomendation=MovieGenre.CHICKFLICK;

Re:Suggestion

[truthsearch]

Point conceded.

For the record, this is a turning point in slashdot history. I'll forever remember where I was when I first saw those words in a slashdot comment. (Which of course is at work, sitting through a boring meeting.)