Hacking NetFlix

Time Magazine Reporter Misses Video Store, Rants about Netflix

Time Magazine published a review by a reporter that seems angry at Netflix about the closing of his local video store, Why Netflix Stinks.

A Netflix ad has one contented couple purring, "We don't miss the video store at all." Well, I do. Specifically, I miss Kim's Video, a lower-Manhattan movie-rental landmark that housed 55,000 DVDs and cassettes of the vastest and most eccentric variety--until it closed early this year and shipped the whole stash to Sicily. Admittedly, Kim's was one of the gems, but cities large and small used to have video stores with all manner of movies that you could see right away. With Netflix, you surrender those basic American rights: impulse choice and instant gratification. You must cool your jets for two to four days, dependent as you are on both the skill of Netflix employees to put the correct movie in your envelope (sometimes they don't) and the speed of the U.S. Postal Service. By the time a video arrives, you may have forgotten why you rented it.

The Reason Netflix Posts Movies Before They Are Available on DVD

Reader @MCWHammer had an interesting exchange on Twitter with @Netflixhelps about the reviews and 932 ratings for Toy Story 3, a movie that is still in production and won't be shown in theaters until next year.

@MCWHammer: Toy Story 3 is now on Netflix. But it doesn't come out for 1 year. Isn't that setting yourself up for 100s of fake reviews?

@MCWHammer: I only say that because there are already several fakes, and that's likely just the beginning.

@Netflixhelps: True, there are some fake reviews, but we have measures that allow the community to week out fake reviews.

@Netflixhelps: It's very helpful to us to be able to establish what the demand for a film is well in advance of the release date.

Netflix has to figure out the correct number of DVDs to purchase or we'll see "Long Waits," so they must be using customer ratings, the number of reviews, ticket sales, and other factors to forecast demand. There's no way they can possibly read the millions of reviews, so they count on customers to help identify fake reviews, spoilers, bad language, etc.

Note: If you spot a fake review, you can always use "flag This:"

A Closer Look at the Xbox Live Summer Update with Netflix

My buddy Dave Zatz got his beta invitation (before me!) and posted a nice video walkthrough of the new features, including an updated Netflix application. 

I'm looking forward to the Party Mode, and finally being able to find movies to watch on the Xbox.

NY Times on the US Postal Service Financial Problems

The losses deepen and it looks like the U.S. Postal Service is going to have to take some drastic steps, such as cutting back service to five days. From to the NY Times:

Postmaster General John E. Potter says the Postal Service now expects to run a record $7 billion deficit in 2009, up from projections in March of $6 billion. Losses for the third quarter will not be made public until Aug. 5, but Mr. Potter says those numbers should be similar to figures from the second quarter, when the Postal Service lost $1.9 billion.
The Government Accountability Office added the Postal Service to its list of “high risk” federal programs on Tuesday, urging it to work with Congress to find a solution to its financial problems.

Netflix on the Wii via MediaMall's PlayOn

If you have a Wii and you're not willing to wait and see if Netflix will ever support the Wii, you can try MediaMall's Playon beta software with support for the Nintendo Wii (it also supports the PS3 and Xbox 360). PlayOn costs $40, but you can try it for 14 days for free.

I downloaded the demo from the website, installed it on a Windows Vista machine, and then accessed "Playon.tv" on the Wii Opera browser. It's beta software so it took a few tries to get the video started, but the quality of the picture surprised me (you can read the text in the screen capture below). The PlayOn software also supports Hulu, CNN, and other sources, but you won't get HD quality video like on the Roku Player or Xbox 360. It's nice if you already have a Wii, though.

via Engadget.

Does Netflix Recycles The Red Envelopes?

I get asked if Netflix recycles the red envelopes, and Netflix's Steve Swasey assured me during the recent tour of the Hartford facility that they do recycle the envelopes. I counted five huge boxes, filled with the 250,000 or so envelopes that they process each week, destined for the recycling center.

Details Emerge about Netflix's "Head of Game Platforms"

According to Gamespot, Netflix hired John Funge as "Head of Game Platforms." The success of Netflix on the Xbox 360 must have them eyeing the PS3 and possibly the Wii as the next game system to support. 

When asked to comment on how Funge's Nintendo background and Sony connections might help him at his current gig, a Netflix corporate communications spokesperson said the company "doesn't comment on specific individuals' job responsibilities." When asked whether or not his hiring presaged Netflix streaming expanding to other gaming platforms--as an April Netflix job listing explicitly stated--he offered the following statement:
"As we've said before, Netflix aspires to have its streaming client on many consumer electronics devices, but the game console that instantly streams movies and TV episodes is the Xbox 360, the success of which pleases all of us very much."

I'd love to know when the exclusive deal with Microsoft for Xbox 360 support ends, and how quickly after that they'll add Sony or Nintendo as a partner.

Netflix Million Dollar Prize Contest Worth Millions to Netflix

While we won't know the winner of the $1 Million Netflix Prize contest for weeks, Netflix has already seen more than $1 million worth of press coverage since the contest started in 2006. Netflix is also getting a major improvement to the Cinematch recommendation engine, a feature tied to customer satisfaction and will differentiate the company in an increasingly crowded online video marketplace (try finding a movie you'll like on your cable box). What's really strange is that they're will to share the algorithm, allowing the winner to license or share the code with other companies, ushering in better recommendations on all kinds of products and services. 

According to the Netflix blog, 5,196 teams of researchers from 186 countries worked on the solution. This kind of talent was "hired" for a measly $1 million investment by Netflix.

The New York Times took a close look at the contest, Netflix Competitors Learn the Power of Teamwork. The race to solve the problem with so many people around the world working on it demonstrated the power of collaboration:

The biggest lesson learned, according to members of the two top teams, was the power of collaboration. It was not a single insight, algorithm or concept that allowed both teams to surpass the goal Netflix, the movie rental company, set nearly three years ago: to improve the movie recommendations made by its internal software by at least 10 percent, as measured by predicted versus actual one-through-five-star ratings by customers. Instead, they say, the formula for success was to bring together people with complementary skills and combine different methods of problem-solving.

Google reports several hundred thousand results for "Netflixprize." Countless stories from major magazines, newspapers, bloggers, and scientific journals, adding up to priceless press coverage for Netflix.

The final minutes of the contest were actually exciting. The Ensemble, one of the two final teams in contention for the million dollar prize, posted their account of trying to find their final submission just minutes before the deadline.

Update: A member of the Pragmatic Theory team posted another account of the final minutes of the contest as well.

The million Netflix is giving to the winning team? Well spent.

Netflix Looking from Developers for Feedback on New API Feature

Netflix is asking for feedback from the developer community regarding a new bulk update queue feature.

A queue bulk operation makes it easier to perform queue managment. Currently one must make do with multiple API calls to adds, deletes, format changes, and moves. The set of calls can be tricky to get right, and each call also counts against your quota.

We're adding bulk operations to the API. Here are the two main types of APIs we're considering. Let us know which one you think works best and why!

via the Netflix API on Twitter.

How to Submit Your Movie to Netflix

This is a question I get asked a lot, and Netflix has a page that details the process of submitting a movie to Netflix for consideration. Here are the five steps:

via Crystal Holt on Twitter.