The Netflix optimization challenge exemplifies a situation for which there should be a solution, but which I've not seen a good answer. Namely: for-profit but initially ad-hoc cooperation. For instance, let's just say that I made the case that a Pandora-like "Movie Genome Project" was the key to winning …
more ...Scott Swigart points to this article that gives a non-technical overview of the use of genetic algorithms to determine the optimal tuning characteristics of one's Linux Kernel. This ought to work: many years ago I wrote a genetic algorithm that tuned the optimization parameters of one's C++ compiler and it …
more ...My "Mechanical Turk" reference in the previous post was, as Michael Chermside says, a facetious strategy of using Amazon's cheap-human-labor service to improve movie recommendations. I've been trying to come up with a joke about this that involves the word "Bollywood" and yet which isn't potentially offensive...
In the real …
more ...Well, looks like my Christmas shopping is done for the year... [via Jeff Atwood]
more ...Netflix is offering \$1M to the first person who can achieve 10% better movie recommendations than their current system. Sweet.
I have all sorts of ideas on this. Thank heavens I have copious spare time.
more ...Jon Udell's latest Screening Room is about Windows Live Writer, Microsoft's quite-nice blogging client. However, the discussion of microformats glosses over a significant limitation in the current version of Live Writer, which is that addin content is atomic. For instance, I secured the domain name distributedreviews.com (it's just parked …
more ...Borland is abandoning its two-year-old strategy of delivering a "software development platform" to further the goal of "software delivery optimization." As I feared from the start, Borland's over-stuffed product portfolio and large ambitions clashed with their limited resources.
To summarize: Borland was once the most loved brand in the programming …
more ...Microsoft has granted two additional "grand prizes" to other "Made in Express" finalists. As you may recall, I declared "shenanigans" at the original winner, which was a team project that had been in development for years. An uproar slowly developed and after some reluctance (including a letter from MS Legal …
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The image above is linked to the 2680 x 982 original. If you've got dual-monitors and can stretch it out, it's an amazing vista of, you know, the surface of …
more ...At the risk of sounding immodest, I think we SD Times columnists have been hitting on all cylinders for the past few issues. The latest issue includes Allen Holub on FitNesse testing, Andrew Binstock on free books for programmers, and some crap from me on XNA and non-professional programming (written …
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