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Nerds Beat Netflix's Recommendation System, Qualify for $1 Million Prize

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GitEmSteveDave_HatesFriday
06/27/09

In reply to Nerds Beat Netflix's Recommendation System, Qualify for $1 Million Prize
IIRC, according to a Science Friday from last year, a team had come close with 9.5%, and they got $50,000. So 1%=$950,000. I wonder if the prize committee will reveal their SAT scores.
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Jesus Diaz's Secret Male Lover
06/27/09

In reply to Nerds Beat Netflix's Recommendation System, Qualify for $1 Million Prize
I read about this is Wired... a long time ago. I was wondering how long it would take. That's awesome.

Is the million taxable?
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OMG! Ponies!
06/27/09

@Bill Nye's Secret Male Lover: Yes the prize money is taxable. All prize money is taxable. When you win the Nobel prize, your winnings are taxed.

Rule 1 of the tax code: All income, unless otherwise excepted, is income.
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Crim Law Geek
06/27/09

@OMG! Ponies!:

The money is taxable, but since it is presumably being split a certain number of times (let's say there's 10 team members), the tax raping won't be all _that_ bad. Also, if I win $1 million and Uncle Sam takes $500K, I'm still up $500K, which I do believe still counts as a "win".
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OMG! Ponies!
06/27/09

@Crim Law Geek: It gets taxed at the rate for prize winnings regardless if it's a million dollar payout or a thousand dollar payout.

The government doesn't take a cut out of the prize and then let everyone divvy what remains. Rather, it's paid out the people and then paid at tax time by the individuals. Additionally, their respective States and localities may further tax it. And hopefully, they wrote down the split method or some of it will go to lawyers.

However, you are correct that it's better to be paid money even if some of it then goes to taxes.
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housewarmer
06/28/09

@OMG! Ponies!: There's at least one exception - some legal settlements aren't taxable. The settlement has to be due to physical injury or illness, but a little creative structuring can fit almost anything into those categories.
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OMG! Ponies!
06/28/09

@housewarmer: Personal injury awards aren't "prize winnings". It's not an exception because it's classified as something else. It's also why settlement is sometimes preferable to verdict. Awards for lost earnings are taxable (as income) while settlements, which typically do not break out the earnings, remain largely exempt.
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alikaz
06/27/09

In reply to Nerds Beat Netflix's Recommendation System, Qualify for $1 Million Prize
algorithm to do what?
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Heliophage
06/27/09

@alikaz:

"Two front runners in the contest, Team Pragmatic Theory and Team Bellkor in Chaos, joined forces and submitted an algorithm that was 10.05 percent better than the one Netflix uses to recommend movies to its subscribers."
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Heliophage
06/27/09

@Heliophage:

Also, it's in the title.
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Heliophage was starred Heliophage was unstarred

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