Chris So after giving Inception a good amount of thought, I think the answer to all of the questions has to do with a totem. To avoid spoilers, I won't say much more than that other than I think there is a totem that is not identified to the viewer. I've got to go watch it again :).
Apparently you’ve never seen BeBot, as demoed by Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFG7-Q0WI7Q
Chris-
Please direct people to the riffapp.com web site. RIFF is now available on the iTunes Store.
Thanks bro!