Freebase Launches

Danny Hillis is associated with this company. They seem to be into the semantic web "thing" - not exactly a hot favourite with most programmers. Check out this podcast with one of the freebase guys - http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1879.html

This seems to be like a site that is supposed to appeal to the general public. Aren't you worried that it won't get through the content filters at businesses and schools due to the name? Building your brand around cocaine seems pretty risky.

It seems like you feel that the API and the highly structured organization of the data is what differentiates you from Wikipedia. But, Wikipedia already has huge mindshare, and there are very few people that would ever your added value features. That means advertising is not a viable revenue source. Charging for access is out unless you change the name; who would you pay for something labeled "free"? So, what's the business model?

The people that WOULD need the data to be very structured need to have some assurance that the data is reliable. Usually, somebody who has spent a lot of time and effort to build an accurate data set will want a return on their investment. I could see somebody building a business by aggregating sets of reliable data from reputable data sources (universities, government laboratories, medical journals, etc.), and renting out the data sets to users and/or charging subscription fees. That is what junk mail companies due with mailing lists, for example. But, it is hard to imagine giving it all away for free and still making a living.

The frontpage is extremely noisy. They didn't emphasize the correct things.

How do I get an invitation code?

Crack?