Get all of the above stuff, plus access to the nightly build server for Diaspora, so you can check out our progress all summer!
Huh? Wouldn't that already be public? This sounds like a cool project, but the secretive way of doing things is worrying. If I wanted that, I'd use Facebook.
EDIT: On further inspection, it looks as if this is open source, but only four months from now. Really guys? Is that your way of making this more open than Facebook?
Two major red flags for me:
1. Money up front to a team of unknowns
2. Secluding your work for a big unveiling down the road
I wish them all the best but I think they were the surprise beneficiaries of a strong anti-FB sentiment, nothing more.
"...If you want to see what we are up to, we will be hanging out on the GNU Social mailing list, as well as a few other places as we work on defining some common protocols between like minded projects."
Let public demand and old-fashioned nighttime/weekend hacking kick start the project.