I'd recommend the canon S5 IS, it offers some of the commodities and advanced settings of both a point and shoot and a DSLR, besides, it has a 12x optical zoom and shoots incredible video, buy it with a 16gb sdhc card (around $50) and you're set. If you insist on a Point and Shoot, I'd go with the canon G9. After you decide which camera you want, and if you chose a canon, you should visit the CHDK site (
CHDK - CHDK Wiki), this firmware will let you make the most out of your canon camera.