Without utility, we'd trade gift cards just as well, that's how I see it. It's our responsibility to show the outsiders that we're not just speculators.
About Augur, you've definitely caught me, I have no excuse for obscurity, nor has Augur - but since the tech seems to be stable and well-established behind it, I'd assume routing people there would be more beneficial.
At least I can hope WaykiChain may collaborate with them.
For Augur to reach scale, Ethereum first has to move onwards to Casper.