Interest Still High In the Netflix Algorithm Competition

circletimessquare brings us an update to the status of the million-dollar Netflix competition to develop a better algorithm for movie recommendations. We've discussed aspects of the competition since it started two years ago, but the New York Times has a lengthy overview of where it stands now. "The Netflix competition is still going strong, with a vibrant, competitive roster of some 30,000 programmers around the globe hard at work trying to win the prize. The Times provides a look at some of the more obsessive searchers, such as Len Bertoni, a semi-retired computer scientist near Pittsburgh who logs 20 hours a week on the problem, oftentimes with the help of his children. There's also Martin Chabbert in Montreal: 'After the kids are asleep and I've packed the lunches for school, I come down at 9 in the evening and work until 11 or 12.' The article gets into the history of the search algorithm Netflix currently uses, and explores the hot commodity called 'singular value decomposition' that serves as the basis for most of the algorithms in competition."

Comments

Gotta hand it to the article's author

[gardyloo]

Each new algorithm takes on average three or four hours to churn through the data on the family's "quad core" Gateway computer.

Anyone who puts "quad core" in quotes like that is either clueless, or---when talking about Gateways---astoundingly ironic. It's kudos either way!

Re:Netflix

[gardyloo]

Its surprisingly interesting and sucks you in. In fact I might go play with it now.

This week on Life of Geeks: What not to say on slashdot.

Re:Netflix

[boyter]

You and your dirty mind. Then again large amounts of data is pretty sexy...

Re:Algorithm or Human inaccuracy?

[davester666]

Jim Davis performed in obscure French porn in the 60's.

Re:Algorithm or Human inaccuracy?

[jacquesm]

Second that. I once wrote a chess program just for kicks and it beat me on the second game and I was like 'wtf ?'

6502 assembler long long long ago...

First bit here

[Anonymous Coward]

function get_rating( int movie_flags )
{
        int rating;

        rating = 0;

        if ((movie_flags & MADE_BY_RIAA_MEMBERS) == 0)
        { /* todo */
        }

        return rating;
}

Re:age and gender would boost it way over 10 perce

[Smauler]

In the same vein, a 55 year old man is going to like a teenaged girl much better than NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.

Re:It's fundamentally flawed

[Alpha830RulZ]

It doesn't matter. The algorithms are focused on what the 'account' will like. They will find that your account likes both Oscar winners and Mel Brooks films.