Netflix Never Used That $1 Million Winning Algorithm

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mdillenbeck

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[citation][nom]dalauder[/nom]Well that sounds like a waste of a million bucks![/citation]
Might be a waste, but I am sure it is a trivial expense to Netflix.
 

MooseMuffin

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[citation][nom]dalauder[/nom]Well that sounds like a waste of a million bucks![/citation]
The guys who won it probably don't think so. Plus the fact that so many people know what the Netflix prize was probably means it served pretty well as marketing.
 

SchizoFrog

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If it was a team of scientists who won the prize, I doubt they ever got to see any of it and that some company or university/college claimed the rights to it. Also, while the complete algorithm may not ever be used I but parts of it have or will be developed and used.
 

blazorthon

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[citation][nom]schizofrog[/nom]*... I 'bet' parts...*Tom's still behind the times with an edit feature I see.[/citation]

Tom's has an edit feature in the forums for the tomshardware.com articles and forums. Tom's Guide and IT Pro do not. Yeah, it's annoying.
 

blazorthon

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[citation][nom]schizofrog[/nom]If it was a team of scientists who won the prize, I doubt they ever got to see any of it and that some company or university/college claimed the rights to it. Also, while the complete algorithm may not ever be used I but parts of it have or will be developed and used.[/citation]

The team got the money.
 

nhat11

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Yes because all R&D are successful.....

Comon are people that ignorant to know that not all R&D ventures won't be successful?
 

maddad

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Tax write off, no story at all here! Just compare what your cable/dish company gives you for your money to what Netflix gives you for your money. Then decide what is the better deal!
 

TeraMedia

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How many submissions do all of you think Netflix received that didn't result in a $1m outlay? If you have 10 people working at $60k - $75k each for 1 year, then that's $1m after taxes and benefits. Rather than paying 10 college grads for a year, Netflix was able to persuade perhaps 100s of people to work on the problem. Even if they didn't use a single idea from the winners, did they have rights to use ideas from all of the other submissions? From a business standpoint, this contest wasn't stupid. It was quite frankly brilliant when you consider the amount of research knowledge they acquired vs. the amount they paid for it.
 

freggo

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[citation][nom]dalauder[/nom]Well that sounds like a waste of a million bucks![/citation]

I doubt it.
My guess; they took out a patent on this of course.
Now they just sit and wait until either someone will buy it or gets caught with a similar technology/algorithm and than it is off to the lawyers for the big ROI.
 

robynkms

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I trust you.
g.gif
 

CaedenV

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Netflix needs a bit of work. We have had them for a little over 6 years now and we have seen almost everything we want to see on there (though there are still a few shows we are working on).
Because we have seen so much of it the 'suggestions' that it gives are nearly entirely shows we have already seen and rated, or shows that are so random and entirely not what we like that there is no way we would take their suggestions seriously (law and order, and random documentaries). And yet my mom came to visit for the week and in 5 minutes she gave a few suggestions of shows for us to watch (not on the netflix suggestion list, and not ones we had heard of before), and so far we absolutely love them.

The point is; If there are shows on Netflix that we would enjoy but are not brought to our attention then we begin to think we have no need to Neflix and will likely end our subscription soon. So if they do not fix their suggestion engine then they will loose subscribers like ourselves. They already lost our DVD business when they did the price changes, and in 6-8 months when we finish the 3-4 series we are working on then they will likely loose our streaming subscription as well unless they give us a whole new set of content to work on (but the last few sets of additions have been less than stellar).

...6 years of Netflix being our defacto source of entertainment... what on earth are we going to do when there is no more TV to watch? Maybe we will have to talk to each other or something... this could be disastrous for our relationship lol.
 

DaddyW123

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[citation][nom]frank_drebin[/nom]when they gonna have latest movies, that's what i want to know![/citation]
They say that one of the reasons for shifting from movies (streaming and DVD) to TV Shows is because TV episodes is what most people use... But the reality is, most people use it for TV because Netflix constantly fails to have the newest movies available for streaming in a timely fashion. AND, most people don't want to purchase TV Show DVD's and they aren't readily accessible from Redbox or other remaining DVD Stores.

What I always wanted from netflix from the very beginning was to have brand new movies available for streaming the DAY they were available for purchase in the stores. But when they don't become available for 3+ months after, by then I've already either purchased it or rented it elsewhere... why would I bother watching it again on netflix.

Really, if the movie industries wanted to help fight piracy, they should help netflix obtain new movies right away! Granted, this might cut down on SALES of movies, but many pirates out there would probably say, why bother trying to find and download this movie when I can just stream it whenever I want to whatever device I want. But that is really just a guess. No real research to back that up.
 

slabbo

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[citation][nom]blazorthon[/nom]Tom's has an edit feature in the forums for the tomshardware.com articles and forums. Tom's Guide and IT Pro do not. Yeah, it's annoying.[/citation]
Yup! Toms needs a contest for some coders to fix this edit/forum comments sections and make it so it's at least functional and uniform across all their comments section.
 
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