Netflix Prize Competitor Already Beats Netflix

Baldrson writes "Within the first week of the announcement of The Netflix Prize a team has already beaten Netflix's own movie recommendation algorithm. This is pretty impressive given the previously quoted researcher who said: 'You're competing with 15 years of really smart people banging away at the problem.' The team is WXYZConsulting.com apparently registered by a data mining professor named Yi Zhang. Congratulations are in order for Netflix and Prof. Zhang's team who are demonstrating, yet again, the power of prizes to accelerate progress."

Upon further consideration...

[scoser]

the power of prizes to accelerate progress

Hmm...In that case, I'm offering $1000 USD to the person or group that can find me the perfect girlfriend!

Re:Upon further consideration...

[Jesus IS the Devil]

Your girlfriend's name contains 5 letters. Just count them with your left hand.

Send me my check thanks.

Re:Upon further consideration...

[qbwiz]

Well, would a temporary girlfriend work? I'm pretty sure you could find one for that amount of money. Otherwise, I think you would need to pay more.

Re:Upon further consideration...

[jizziknight]

Problem solved: get a realdoll. Can I have my $1000 USD now?

banned in Quebec

[welcher]

Looking in the competition rules, I was surpised to see that:

Residents of the province of Quebec in Canada are ineligible to participate. Residents of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Sudan are also ineligible to participate.

Is Quebec the next target for regime change?

An old Spanish saying...

[sam0vi]

... says "Por la boca muere el pez", which means something like "Fish die because of their mouths". We'll see if that research team can swim

I'll do you one better.

[Rob T Firefly]

I have perfected the perfect movie recommendation mechanism. It's called a "friend."

I hold a patent on the idea, and I've copyrighted the statement "hey, I saw this movie you'd like."

Recommendation Software

[cultrhetor]

You know, I've never seen recommendation applications worth much of anything. Ringo was okay, until M$ turned it into Firefly, which died in 1999(?). It will be interesting if this turns out well, or if it turns out like TiVO, which in Patton Oswalt's words, is like "working with a retarded kid." "No, TiVo, NO! Westerns aren't cartoons! / But you like horsies! Liar!"

IMDB

[British]

IMDB's recommendation system for movies is so bad it's funny in it's own right. You could look up a science fiction movie, and it would recommend a head cleaner cassette for a Betamax VCR.

Congratulations

[Mignon]

Congratulations on your solution to the Netflix problem. You might also find the following problem(s) interesting:

• Millenium Math Problems [claymath.org]
• International Campaign to Ban Land Mines [icbl.org]
• World Peace [worldpeace.org]
• Where are my socks? [laundry-alternative.com]
• Where's Waldo? [amazon.com]

wxyz...

[devnullkac]

WXYZConsulting.com registered to a Yi Zhang, eh? Probably co-founded it with Wilfred Xylem. Sounds fishy to me...

Re:IMDB

[Antique Geekmeister]

You're right. Those belong in historical fiction.

Re:Sometimes one person with a different perspecti

[fotoflojoe]

That's why a fresh perspective on a problem can be quite enlightening, and why I tend to go ask other programmers for their ideas/comments when I get stuck. I don't know everything, and I sometimes make stupid assumptions or forget to consider certain technquies. No group is immune from this.

Bah, every time I ask other programmers for input, their ideas are always stupid, my ideas are much better...