What is it? – quick video. pretty sure I’ve sent this before:
http://www.weusecoins.com/en/

Coinbase, a legitimate place to buy them with USD. I wish I could buy *lots* more!
http://CoinBase.com

Where to be a trader:
http://btc-e.com (i trade here)
or
https://www.cryptsy.com/

Informative blog:
http://thegenesisblock.com/

Watch the Network – watch ’em being bought in real-time. you can watch china gobble them up at night and then USA starts in the morning.
http://fiatleak.com/

Crypto Currencies:
I traded all my bitcoins for litecoins. I’d say the 3 top crypto-currencies now are Bitcoin(BTC), Litecoin(LTC) the PeerCoin(PPC) right now.
http://www.businessinsider.com/introduction-to-litecoin-2013-11

In the future, I think Bitcoins will have the highest values and be used for large purchases, cars, houses, computers etc… You can divide them down to 8 decimal places. They are a little slower to ‘confirm’ the transaction on the network. The Litecoin network verifies transactions much faster.

Litecoin Origin:
http://www.coindesk.com/litecoin-founder-charles-lee-on-the-origins-and-potential-of-the-worlds-second-largest-cryptocurrency/