July 3rd, 2007
MyMovieMatch - a Rich Internet Application recommendation engine
Last week matchmine released MyMovieMatch, a very cool interactive application that serves as a recommendation engine for movies. The application was built with Flex 2 and Adobe AIR and provides a bit of a bridge between the web and the desktop. The primary initalization mode is all done via the web, and then your preferences are exported as a MatchKey which is just a file that resides on your hard drive. Once you’ve trained the application and saved your MatchKey, you can download the AIR client and use it to suggest movies right from your desktop.
The site describes the MatchKey as “a sophisticated mathematical representation of your personal interests and tastes across a growing list of media, including movies, music, blogs and video.” Right now MyMovieMatch only does video, but as the engine is expanded, it would be easy to see it expanding into the types of media listed above.
The AIR application itself is an interesting experience. When you load it up it has settings that you can tweak depending on your mode. For instance, you can have it select movies that are more funny or serious as well as movies with big stars or cult films. It uses the data you’ve already provided to then generate suggestions based on those preferences. You can also drill down into genres or current release cycles (DVD, Theater, etc). If any of the suggested movies look interesting, you can click on them to get plot information, watch a trailer, or share it with your friends. At any time you can drag a movie to your “want list” or “watch list” and have it taken into account during the recommendation process.
One of the coolest features is the Mashup. With Mashup, you can drag two movies of your choice into the boxes and then click the Match button to have the application generate movies you might like based on the two that you selected. I tried mashing up The Quick and the Dead and Dracula and got some odd, but interesting selections.
Overall, I’d say the recommendation engine will need some tweaking, and the movie options they have are a little odd, but this is a beta product and MyMovieMatch shows off the power of the platform. This is going to be a cool application more movie buffs and hobbyists alike because once you get into the application and start adjusting settings and dragging around movie posters, you’ll find that you’re having a lot of fun. Hopefully by the end you’ll have a good movie to watch.
Ryan Stewart, a Rich Internet Application developer and industry analyst, recently joined Adobe's Platform Team as a Rich Internet Application Evangelist. full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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