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Freebase, the user-contributed database, has launched its public beta. We reviewed the site here, while it was still in its private alpha test phase.
Now anyone can search and browse the site, and applications based on Freebase's API also have public-read access. However, write-access is still restricted to users only, which you'll need an invite for. Since our initial review of Freebase, the site has amassed a lot of new data, hailing information on over 30,000 films, 500,000 important people, and more stuff on sports, companies, and everything else you could imagine.