Is like-i-like really what-i-like?

like-i-like.org is a movie recommendation system that oddly enough recommends movies! lol It learns your movie taste, from ratings provided by the user, and makes personalized predictions specially for you. It offers a feature which allows you to find "movie soulmates", individuals who have similar ratings and preferences. You can even see how many votes your "soulmate" has provided and see how they voted on a particular movie!! These soulmates can also be contacted to ask for their opinion on movies that you have yet to view. According to the program's FAQ on achieving the best (most precise) predictions, users should be objective in their rankings. Predictions appear after you rate at least 10 items, but going over 20 ranked items results in much moer accurate forecast.

So i registered to use the system and after rating 30+ movies, i question whether their recommendations are in fact "what-i-like"? It appears the movie database in still in a building stage because a number of the movies that I searched for to vote on where not found. After rating 6 movies, predictions began to appear on how I would rate the movie. Of the following 6 movies that I rated, 3 of the predictions were accurate (when rounded) and 3 where within 1 or 2 points. So after giving 12 votes, I decided to see what type of recommendations the system would offer. Viewing only the top 10, all of the movies suggested were ranked 9.9 and I have to admit I've never seen or even heard of them :-( Perhaps, this is why they suggest ranking at least 20 movies. So onward I went. I rated another 9 movies and 3 of the predictions were accurate (when rounded) and again the rest were within a point or two. What struck me as odd during this period is I performed a search for Spiderman...to my amazement, the movie didn't appear!! Right or wrong, I question the validity of any system that doesn't have at least the first Spiderman in its database....call me crazy but that's one of the best movies, all time!! So by the end of this phase I've rated a total of 21 songs and wanted to take a look at the recommendations again. The system predicted I would rate each movie a 10 but with the exception of Dirty Harry-which i vaguely remember b/c of the title though I dont remember watching it, none look even remotely familiar. I've never claimed to be a movie connoisseur so I like what I like and on rare occassion, I step outside of that realm and land on something interesting that may have never caught my eye. Even with that said, I guess I was expecting to see more movies that I've seen or heard about and would enjoy watching. I mean I've rated some of my all-time favorites at this point and they should give a pretty good indication of what I like but either I'm the odd ball and other users don't agree with my taste or the system isn't as knowledgeable as I would like. Wanting to go just another step further, I rated 10 more movies. On 2 of the 10, the system didn't offer any predictions at all. 5 of the remaining 8 were accurate and the last 3 were within a few points of accuracy. Worth noting, the system predicated i would rank Malibu's Most Wanted, which I thought was a very poor movie though I admittedly laughed maybe twice, at least a 5.5 and when rounded is a 6 which is slightly good when i actually gave it a 3. Conversely, Training Day which I think is a phenomenal movie, masterpiece even, was only rated 8.9...I wish I could see the brains of the operation to give it a piece of my mind too! lol So I decided to check out the recommendations again, hoping for the best, and still nothing!! Two of the 10 movies recommended, previously appeared in the list and that lets me know either the system thinks it's right and that I would REALLY REALLY like this movie or the system has not be able to infer anything from my additional ratings :-( I didn't recognize a single title in the entire list....perhaps I just expect too much!! lol

Remi A - signing off!

(BTW - because of the ranking/rating system used, like-i-like uses collaborative filtering to make recommendations)

like-i-like.org
username: prs-tester
password: prs-tester

Males Getting an Electronic Personal Stylist?

The Galeria Kaufhof in Essen, Germany has found a new, intriguing way to use RFID tags. Typically, the RFID craze was surrounded around tracking items from suppliers to checkout. But, with new efforts from Checkpoint Systems, Impinj and Reva Systems, men buying clothes in RFID supported stores will get automatic suggestions!! Cool huh?! According to Baseline, when men go into the dressing room to try on a suit, a "smart mirorr" tells them what kind of shirt or tie they should buy with it. The notion is that business intelligence systems like smart mirrors and smart shelves can be used to increase sales while providing viable options to customers real-time.

Concept?
These smart mirrors have RFID readers which can determine what apparel has been brought into the change room or is wearing or holding at the table, based on their attached RFID tag. The mirror then displays complementary clothing choices or accessories. Just in conjunction with "smart shelves", the user is presented with only those options (ie sizes, styles and colors) that are available in-store.

How it works?
Thats a great question. Unfortunately, most of the documentation that I found online is written in German, revealing one of my many weaknesses in that Im not bilingual! So I'm left to infer possibilities. Being that the tags are placed on each item in the store, I gather there's some type of item or content based filtering behind the scenes. I would also suggests there may perhaps be some collaborative filtering as well given suggestions can be derived from past customers buying patterns and what items they pair together. I also wonder if perhaps some suggestions are entered into the system before involving any additional filtering. From the company standpoint, I'm sure they have designers and clothes buyers that are familiar with "what goes well together" so perhaps they use that upfront knowledge to offer recommendations and continue to develop those as more data is gathered. I definitely believe the suggestions rests on some type of hybrid recommendation system and am eager to determine if my assumptions are accurate, perhaps I can find a German speaking assistant between now and the end of the semester :-)

So far this technology is only available to males as the belief is they need more help. I would only offer that since women tend to shop more, financial benefits may be seen more readily by implementing this technology for females. Just my thoughts!

RFID tags help you to choose clothes (October 16, 2007)
Retailer Uses RFID to Help the Sartorially Challenged Sex (October 4, 2007)
World's First End-to-End UHF Item-Level RFID Shopping Experience for METRO Group (September 20, 2007)
METRO Group - The Spirit of Commerce