No reviews, but a list of known ewallets:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:EWallets

Are you using the most recent version, v0.3.24?

Is it possible you are behind a firewall that will not let the client's outbound communications through?
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Do_I_need_to_configure_my_firewall_to_run_bitcoin.3F

You might find someone on the #bitocin-otc marketplace. 

I haven't seen Paxum there yet, but with that being the TradeHill solution for U.S., and the Mt. Gox solution for CAD and EUR deposits, there are probably are Paxum users now who hang out on -otc.
  - http://bitcoin-otc.com/vieworderbook.php

And of course, trade safely:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secure_Trading#Use_Bitcoin-OTC
 - http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/Using_bitcoin-otc#Risk_of_fraud

Perhaps an individual from the Local exchanges?
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Local

BTC Near Me, Ubitex, or Bitcoin.local might have someone close to you?

The current client is probably adequate for retailers like Meze Grill to use.  For retail use involving larger amounts or for other reasons, additional monitoring could detect within seconds if there was a double spend attempt of the form referred to as a "race attack"  See:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=27417.msg350531#msg350531


The miners seem to have no problem with providing transaction processing for 0.0005 BTC. That means the fee is under a penny.  Not bad for a $10 transaction. You as the customer then pay about $0.01 worth to be able to pay using bitcoin, Meze Grill doesn't lose a bit to fees for that sale when accepting bitcoin -- versus getting only $9.70 had you paid $10 using visa/mc.

What you are overlooking is that even if Meze Grill were to convert 100% of their bitcoin sales to USDs, ... the customer is served better when providing bitcoin as a payment option.  If I have bitcoins already, for me to convert them to USD so I can buy lunch is a hassle I might like to avoid.

This might work:
  http://www.twilert.com/

have it send an email for the daily price quote from
  http://twitter.com/bitcoineconomy

Reported as a routing issue with their host:
 - http://www.dwolla.org/blog/dwolla-com-access/

There are people on #bitcoin-otc marketplace who will accept paypal from trusted sources.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secure_Trading#Use_Bitcoin-OTC

Perhaps a first purchase using something like a MoneyPak will help you to build trust, and then PayPal could be used later.

But yes, with Bitcoin being a prohibited purchase in PayPal's user agreement, it is probably best to avoid them entirely.

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:EWallets

WalletBit might be useful, though any time you are trusting your bitcoins elsewhere there are risks.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/WalletBit

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secure_Trading#Use_Bitcoin-OTC
 - http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/Using_bitcoin-otc#Risk_of_fraud

We as individuals holding bitcoin have a self-interest in promoting it (and patronizing those businesses who do accept Bitcoin) so as the community grows, those business will be getting the "will you take bitcoin" inquiry often.  Thanks for hitting up Zaarly on that.  

Here was an effort to get FreeLancer.com to start using bitcoin.
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=30476.0

There was at one time a bounty for getting certain merchants onboard:
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=4667.0

Bruce Wagner is responsible for getting at least two restaurants in NYC to start accepting bitcoin, for instance.

For various reasons, national chains and larger ecommerce sites -- those who might benefit the most from adopting bitcoin, will likely not make the leap until they get pressure from competitors.

That why it is so awesome to see direct competitors such as http://ForBitcoin.com taking on Fiverr.com, for instance. And how ecommerce site http://BitcoinDeals.com will use Bitcoin's strengths as a competitive advantage over other alternatives in its space.

Bitcoin is becoming even more accessible to the general public with mobile apps like BitPay http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BitPay and Bitcoin Android and a wider offering of ewallet providers such as https://walletbit.com  That will help change to the perception that Bitcoin will only be a niche community.

But of course, active promotion to merchants gets us there faster.  For example, Hackers on a Plane (HoaP) tweeted "Our customers for the flight into camp demand we accept BTC, so now we do."
 - http://twitter.com/#!/hackersonaplane/status/96267620952702979

The Bitcoin Android app is one of the native bitcoin clients that use headers only.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin-android
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=7972.0
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Clients

The attacker could supress a transaction for a block that the attacker has mined, but another miner might include the transaction in a later block.  If the attacker has a lot more than 50%, the blocks by other miners could be replaced.  Here's more on the subject:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power

About a year ago some of the cypherpunks were on a panel and one of the discussions was about how, at the time when the export of most encryption was not allowed, the big question was how long before the U.S. government would stop them with their plans to spread civilian use of cryptography globally?:
- http://www.bitcoinmoney.com/post/6136537609

Nearly two decades later, Philip R. Zimmerman concludes -- didn't happen, and the government never made contact with the group even.

Does that transaction appear in the block chain?
 - http://www.blockexplorer.com ?

Have all the blocks been downloaded?
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getting_started#Initialization

Not all have been downloaded unless your client shows the number having reached:
 - http://blockexplorer.com/q/getblockcount  (currently, 138,659)

Holding bitcoins as an investment
Bitcoin also functions as a store of value -- one with the potential of increasing in value over time.  Just as people will put money in gold, silver, bonds or Apple stock even, some will buy and hold bitcoins.

Non-reversible
Chargebacks get abused, and the merchant suffer losses.  What this means is that if a merchant can't rely on the status of funds -- with no chance of reversal, then there are some businesses that won't or can't accept either paypal or bank card payments.  As we are learning, not even a "cash payments" system like Dwolla is non-reversible.

Low fees
When a business does accept PayPal or bank payment card, the merchant loses a certain amount of each sale to the payment processor.  PayPal's rate is $0.30 per transaction plus 2.9%.  So the merchant gets just $19.42 when you send $20.

No settlement delay
When receiving bitcoins, those funds can be used for spending in just minutes.  For a merchant or individual even with a tight cash flow (i.e., nearly broke), not having to wait three days for your money to clear the settlement process is a big advantage over payment cards.

These reasons are why the recipient of the funds might like for you to pay using bitcoin.  To help persuade you, a discount might even be offered.  This is similar to how some merchants offer a discount for paying with cash.  Some gas stations have two prices -- one for when paying with cash and another for when paying with a credit card.

Now, when you receive bitcoin as payments, you end up on the other side of your argument.  Why would the merchant want to convert bitcoins received to PayPal or to a bank card if they could simply use those bitcoins for the purchases they make.

Not only does that merchant save by not having to convert at an exchange the funds that were received, that merchant might also receive a discount when using bitcoin as the payment method for its purchases.

We are not there yet, but as the Bitcoin economy continues to build this scenario is an entirely possible outcome.

It is connecting to peer nodes that it already knows of, unless it is the first time and then it discovers nodes.

Here's the wiki page that addresses your question further.
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Network

There are a handful of very excellent overviews:
 - http://omegataupodcast.net/2011/03/59-bitcoin-a-digital-decentralized-currency (1 hour 30 minute podcast)
 - http://linuxoutlaws.com/podcast/215 (2 hour podcast)
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQPSwA2Itbs (watch starting at about 0:41 minutes in)

No "bump" specifically, but there are some mobile options:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Mobile

Says "coming soon, for ios":
 - http://mtgoxlive.com/mobile/

It is a bad idea.
 - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=5324.msg77896#msg77896

Are you instead hoping to just access bitcoin from multiple computers?  There are multiple front ends:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Category:Frontends

Are you asking about a portable app that can be run from USB?

I had seen a thread on one but since the source wasn't being released I personally wouldn't use it.

Running it as a portable app doesn't lessen the security risk all that much though.

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet