elq

simply not true - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine

"When Netflix or any other rental business buys DVDs, they don't just buy the same copy you and I do, but a rental version with different licensing terms which costs considerably more"

Not true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine

many families strongly encourage children to get a graduate degree.

The Roku runs linux...

"Machine Learning: An Algorithmic Perspective" by Stephen Marsland is very good if you want to see the ideas in code and if you're not mathematically ready for hastie or bishop.

http://seat.massey.ac.nz/personal/s.r.marsland/MLBook.html

that would be nice... oh, wait a minute http://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/wiki/ProjectPlan

Yes. I have a 3008 and I'm constantly distracted by the horrible plastic. I can't imagine how I use it daily...

Now without the sarcasm - The monitor is fantastic. It's been fantastic for over a year. I really couldn't care less how the non-glowing part of the display looks.

The tiny differences in implementation between the sun and ibm vm's is a regular source of deep and painful frustration for some of the people I work with.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=884858 already posted. already killed.

Reading comprehension for the win - "DVD will only be the "primary delivery format" at the company for the next two years, though he did add that it would stick around in some fashion for the next decade or two."

Since the contest is over all of the data has been donated to the UCI ML repo http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/datasets/Netflix+Prize

The "secret" data set is in the file "judging.txt" in the grand_prize download.

Netflix certainly is hiring http://jobs.netflix.com/cojobsFlix.asp?Region=LosGatos

The comments the from first time this was posted http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=741438 (three whole days ago) might be interesting.

It's certainly not a bad (for me) now, but at the time I considered it a bad because I wasn't used to seeing three people get fired in two days.

No one I've worked with has ever been sent packing, but to the best of my understanding it's generally not a surprise and people are given chances.

Not perfect. But they really mean it when they say "adequate performance gets a generous severance package".

Sure. Here's some banal stuff. If you have anything in particular you'd like to know, ask.

Good - A few days after I joined I decided I wanted a much bigger monitor and several gigs more ram. After hemming and hawing for a day trying to figure out how to justify it to my manager, I just asked. My manager said there was no reason to ask him, just file a ticket. No approval needed. This is true for anything I need (hardware, software, cell phone...).

Bad - Within my first week, I noticed three "good bye" emails, none of which were voluntary.

Great - I have free access to one of the largest sets of voluntary enjoyment decision data and lots of big machines. ML paradise.

Great - All of my coworkers are amazing. It's really satisfying to not be the smartest guy in the room.

No, I'm a jerk not a constant asshole. Most companies try real hard not to hire idiots. Netflix is such a company.

Orders are not given at netflix. I choose the project I want to work on. Hence my comment "Context vs. Control", it's taken right out of the presentation.

At netflix, when they say they don't want "brilliant jerks", what they mean is they don't want "constant ass holes".

Context vs. Control.

they're 100% accurate. This deck is very similar (if not identical, it's been a while) to the one you're expected to read at the "meet with Reed" meeting one month or so after you're hired. Netflix is, without a doubt, the single best company I have ever worked for (even better than my own company).

I put away a start-up idea to work there. It was worth it.

"The Ensemble was created by a merger between the two teams that appear on the leaderboard as "Grand Prize Team" and "Opera Solutions and Vandelay United"."

And no one has officially won as the scores on the test set are not public.

no. it's over tomorrow morning at ~11:30am PST... there are a few complications that could cause an extension, but they're not likely.

Almost all of them are in places where there is no local or state sales tax.

Netflix has facilities in most states. Amazon would have to collect sales tax in most (if not all) of these states.

http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090714/amazon-buys-netflix-micr...

there are 58 dvd distribution centers or hubs. most states have at least one.

Yes. The sales tax consequence to amazon is huge. I really don't know why these rumors keep popping up every couple of years. Perhaps it's because Werner Vogels spoke at our weekly tech talk thing?

I forgot to answer your first question. We released a new prediction engine a few months ago (http://blog.netflix.com/2009/05/more-accurate-star-predictio...)...

I think it's safe to assume that we wouldn't have used new algorithm(s) if they didn't work well on our ~3B ratings.