I've continued to try the beta site off and on for the past 48 hours or so, and have found that every once in a while it doesn't work...  It is, after all, beta.

Danno...  Just so you know...  Software development generally goes through several phases.  Computer environments are so complex now that it is virtually impossible to test every situation, so testing takes several steps, the first being done internally.  The later phases involve releasing the software to a limited number of people so it can be run in the real world, and thus encounter real-world problems that need to be fixed.  This is a "beta" version...  A 95% done version intended to cast a much broader testing net by letting lots of people run it, with the hope that they will report any problems they encounter.  Think of a beta version as meaning:  "If you are a technical enthusiast who is comfortable running software that is not fully tested, and thus you are likely to encounter bugs, then feel free to run the beta version."  You may also hear the term "Release Candidate" instead of "beta".

No idea, I just stumbled across a mention of it on the TER main page, they don't really make a big deal of it.