Netflix Prize: Ideas giveaway

I learned a lot today. A very short report from the conference KDD 2007, San Jose, California:
My paper, poster and slides.
The workshop proceedings.

Netflix Prize: The Long Walk

ML@UToronto, a team representing one of the strongest machine learning research groups, regains 3rd place with their new solution.

Netflix Prize: Even more progress

3rd place in the Netflix Prize.

Netflix Prize: More progress

I am in 4th place in the Netflix Prize with the score over 7%.
This is one of those rare times when I can say I am quite pleased with myself.

Netflix Prize: Progress

My last submission is in ninth place. Team Bellkor takes the lead.

Netflix Prize: The truth is out there, in the data

Nine months after the start of the contest, still in 10th place, less than 1% behind the leading team.

Currently leading is a four-person team Gravity from Budapest University of Technology and Economics. In third place is a four-person team from University of Toronto, including Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, a well known person in the machine learning community.

Looks like the competitors approach the task really professionally. A recent article in the New York Times, "Netflix Prize Still Awaits a Movie Seer", cites the leader of Team Gravity:
"Domonkos Tikk, a data mining expert who is a senior researcher at the university in Budapest, leads Team Gravity. Dr. Tikk said that since October, his team, which is composed of three Ph.D. candidates and himself, has spent eight hours a day, seven days a week on the problem".

Netflix Prize

I advanced to the top ten in the Netflix Prize.

"Torture the data long enough, and sooner or later it will confess." (Julian Faraway / Ronald Coase)

After 8 months from the start of the contest the data still do not want to confess. The $1 million prize is a strong motivation. Almost 2000 teams submitted their solutions.

First note

So, I've decided to start a blog. If the Polish prime minister can have a blog, then I can have one too.