If you're not into professional photography, then dont bother getting one over 400 dollars. A Sony Cybershot or a Samsung should do you fine. If you do want a more expensive one go for a Canon, for photography you'll want to get a Rebel or something along those lines. Nikons are nice as well.
Go for a Canon powershot, they're really good cameras for just using for whenever! I love mine! And the MegaPixels are really good. Nikon makes really good ones too!
my cheap (~$100-$150) camera is awesome. sanyo something or another.
I love it just because it's simple, but is tweakable. barely, but eh.
as said above, those high end d-slr's are awesome for pros, expensive for everyone else.
I'm assuming that the tech has improved since I got mine, but I'm too busy to look it up. !