So, there's this Netflix contest… 'Build a Better Netflix, Win a Million Dollars?' Netflix, the popular online movie rental service, is planning to award $1 million to the first person who can improve the accuracy of movie recommendations based on personal preferences. To win the prize, a contestant will have to devise a system that is more accurate than the company’s current recommendation system by at least 10 percent. And, to improve the quality of research, Netflix is making available to the public 100 million of its customers’ movie ratings, a database the company says is the largest of its kind ever released. Netflix is opening their database to users to try to craft a better recommendation technology. The problem is not going to be an easy one though. Says one researcher, "You're competing with 15 years of really smart people banging away at the problem."

So, a couple of work associates and I are going to pull our collective stupidity together and maybe create something only the best idiot savants out there could.

Stay tuned for updates…