OpenRefine reconciliation service not working - mutliple vs single queries - freebase

Question

I have been using OpenRefine 2.6 Beta 1 w/o problems since its release, and later, with the reconciliation service at:
http://reconcile.freebaseapps.com/reconcile
However, in the past fee days, I have not been able to use it all. If I go to the URL:
http://reconcile.freebaseapps.com/
and type the multiple query:
{
"query": "Ford",
"type": "/people/person",
"properties": [
{
"pid": "/people/person/place_of_birth",
"v": "Detroit"
}
]
}
I obtain:
{
"result": [
{
"id": "/m/0j8pb6y",
"name": "Ford",
"type": [
{
"id": "/people/person",
"name": "Person"
},
{
"id": "/common/topic",
"name": "Topic"
},
{
"id": "/geography/mountaineer",
"name": "Mountaineer"
}
],
"notable": [],
"score": 1.1546246,
"match": false
},
{
"id": "/m/01vd3gv",
"name": "Ford",
"type": [
{
"id": "/common/topic",
"name": "Topic"
},
{
"id": "/music/artist",
"name": "Musical Artist"
}
],
"notable": [],
"score": 1.0330245999999998,
"match": false
},
{
"id": "/m/0cmdhzt",
"name": "James Meredith",
"type": [
{
"id": "/common/topic",
"name": "Topic"
},
{
"id": "/people/person",
"name": "Person"
},
{
"id": "/military/military_person",
"name": "Military Person"
},
{
"id": "/people/deceased_person",
"name": "Deceased Person"
}
],
"notable": [],
"score": 0.0681692,
"match": false
}
],
"duration": 369
}
But if I try a simple query:
{
"query": "Ford"
}
I get:
Status: error Error:undefined
Any insights into what's happening with the reconciliation service? Is there any other service I could use to replace freebaseapps.com?
Thanks

Answer 1

Try this in Queries Parameter at http://reconcile.freebaseapps.com/
{
"q0": {
"query": "Ford"
}
}
For some reason, single queries are not accepted in Query Parameter but in Queries Parameter in the format above. I have not tested this in OpenRefine, so you might have to modify it.

Answer 2

I don't know for certain about the date, but Freebase was announced earlier this year as being shutdown by Jun 30, 2015, for some services. Maybe service is intermittent until full shutdown? Sorry, this answer probably doesn't help much.