At this moment ETH not doing too much, as it's still in development. According to my understanding the big thing in ETH is the embedded scripting language what makes possible to write all sorts of contracts and then automate these transactions according to some predefined conditions. Pretty much like NXT or Qora but more flexible.
Right. Here's an example that was written a yearish ago on Ethereum beta that shows a hypothetical government run on the blockchain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVupNB_uFwkThe idea is that the programming of the "contracts" are transparent in the same way that bitcoin's ledger is transparent. Augur plans on using it to support a decentralized intrade ("If X event will happen betting"). IoT from IBM was using it to demonstrate washing machines that could order their own soap I think (not sure why you need the blockchain to do that) at CES.
The idea I took from of it was having a blockchain that could enforce agreements. A decentralized exchange, betting, reputation systems (some people are building locks that interface with it for AirBNB / Uber type applications). Charles was much better at explaining contracts. Sadly - their marketing changed to "decentralize the internet" which is completely different than "programmable blockchain for contracts".
Several banks are looking into using the blockchain at keeping track of note swaps and the Ethereum technology (not public blockchain) is top of their list at this point.
There's also a lot of excitement around Casper which is supposed to be the end all for PoS scaling solution. The idea of programmable contracts to eventually create the holy grail of autonomous organizations has been around for a long time. Decentralized system to enforce the contracts is what a lot of the insider hype used to be built on. Now everyone thinks they can program Rainbow 6 on the blockchain and create limewire on the blockchain and it's creating a lot of static.
Do your own research. Look at who they have on their dev / adviser list. They've delivered. They have also been stupidly wasteful with their money. It's a mixed bag.
Tons of people have used all these buzzwords to pump their shitcoins ... hell XCoin was using it to pump their shit back in the day. Don't get caught in the hype or the fud.