If you're interested in mining altcoins, you can consider mining for a multipool (like https://www.multipool.us), which automatically switches to the most profitable coin to mine.  That way, you will maximize the profitability of any mining equipment you choose to use.

Also, you can use Bitcoin ASIC miners to mine for lots of different altcoins (as long as they use the same algorithm as Bitcoin, which is SHA-256).

I think that Bitcoin could hit ~$5000 at the end of 2014.  If we look at the growth over 2013 (from $12 to $1000), and consider that Bitcoin is only just barely reaching the mainstream, it's clear that there still a huge potential for growth.

This current lull in the price is likely because of the bad press we've been receiving lately (because of the crash of mtgox), and I think that Bitcoin will emerge from this event stronger and more stable.

I believe that blockchain.info has now removed the wallet feature because of issues with Apple, and now only offers a transaction ticker, so this app is no longer very useful.

When ASIC's come out, the difficulty will rise so that Bitcoins are being created at the same rate.  This means that GPU and CPU mining will become impractical because the ASIC's will take a much larger share in the mining  and each Hash will go less far.  It's probably a good idea to wait and invest in an ASIC miner.

Sorry but this seems like a complete scam.

I'm trying to convert an MtGox cash coupon to paypal using BitInstant, but, when I select these options, theres no place to type in the coupon code.  Is there a way to fix this?