Psychologist Might Outsmart Others in Netflix Prize

"In October 2006, Netflix announced it would give a cool seven figures to whoever created a movie-recommending algorithm 10 percent better than its own. Within two weeks, the DVD rental company had received 169 submissions, including three that were slightly superior to Cinematch, Netflix's recommendation software. After a month, more than a thousand programs had been entered, and the top scorers were almost halfway to the goal."

Because of a past life in algorithmic problem solving I was and have stayed interested in the Netflix prize.  In fact it's more than that -- I honestly think their idea on letting others contribute and improve the algorithm was brilliant.

This Wired article is interesting, entertaining, and informative.  Read the full article at This Psychologist Might Outsmart the Math Brains Competing for the Netflix Prize.