Damn, I am not in or they are still sending the invites but has anybody here got the invite?
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6251001.html

The beta has obviously not started yet, because if it had, I would be in it now.

I haven't got an invite yet.

LAN-less... what a fucking awful idea. Don't they realize how many people STILL get together to play the first game?

Actually, a wireless router is sitting in the corner of every room I spend time in. I have hated the idea of no-LAN at first too, but then I have discovered it's not really a problem.

It's a problem for me if I have to go through some shitty servers to play against someone in my own house. Multiplayer needs to be completely lag free in games like this, and here comes Battle.net with this "service" which is basically a way to prevent piracy by not letting anyone play anything without being connected to it.
I guess it depends on how they implemented it. If it introduces latency, then I'm pissed. If it doesn't, sure, I'll connect to Battle.net and "like" it.

If you were slated to be given access on this go-round you would see the game sitting in your Battle.net management screen even before you received an e-mail. Of course that isn't to say there won't be future rounds of keys handed out.

I know someone playing it now so it's definitely on.
And the FAQ says there will be multiple phases in which to get in on it.

interviews and some info:
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/blog/comments/starcraft-ii-beta-interviews/

Can't give any details here but chat me up on IRC for info.
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So is it any different than SC1 or is it just shinier, split into 3 parts and stripped of LAN?

Well I sure as hell ain't in. Which blows because I could have gone around and said I HAEV SC2 BETA LOOOOOOSERS!!!!

It's not stripped of LAN; at least one PC in the LAN must be connected to the web to auth. and the rest are just peer-to-peer so lag is nonexistent.
Also, the online matches are peer-to-peer as well until one of the player drops out and then he either gets booted from the game or the AI takes over.

The beta's on TPB. Why am I not surprised.

Team liquid has a beta page with a bunch of their beta testers doing live streams. You can see them playing the game and if you make it full screen, even fool a friend into thinking YOU are playing the beta.
So far matches end quickly after one player sends a bunch of enemy units to the base of the other player and either catches him with his pants down or sends the counter of the units guarding the base (then the pants can be on anyway). I figure once the testers start to pick up a few tricks or balancing patches start to flow, we might see some matches lasting longer.