There was some confusion on another HN thread[1] a few days ago as to what Ethereum actually is or is aiming to solve.

This visual contract builder is a really cool demo of what's possible with Ethereum.

For more read the whitepaper: https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/%5BEnglish%5D-White-Pa...

For some mind-bending implications of what might be in store with this technology, see the blog post on Decentralised Autonomous Organisations: http://blog.ethereum.org/2014/02/24/daos-are-not-scary-part-...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7492731