Better yet click on to dpreview.com. They've got about all the major digital cameras listed and reviewed. Pay particular attentiion to what the owners have to say about the digital camera they have bought.
For about $500.00 you have a lot of choices from every major brand. If you want a very compact point-and-shoot, pay attention to Panasonic, Canon, Casio, Fuji Film, Pentax, Sony, and Olympus. There are so many of them out there and new models are coming out almost every other month, -it's confusing and mind boggling.
Pay particular attention to Canon, they seem most consistant in coming out with great digital cameras. Unfortunately, I never felt that they are as well made as Fuji Film or Sony.