I bought an Xbox One (online) as a gift a few months ago using Bitcoin. I wouldn't say that it was much easier than using my credit card, but it was more engaging. 

If more people were technically inclined then Bitcoin would be growing at a much faster rate. It's just unfortunate that most people don't care about innovative technology and the good that can come out of it, at least not until they are given a reason to care.

Bitcointalk is the old standby for Bitcoin discussion, which for many things usually leads to negativity from the amount of users that participate. It's hard to avoid but the entire community shouldn't be criticized for specific subsets of the user-base.

I've been using blockexplorer.com in it's place. Works just fine for checking confirmations and such.