I've had experience with many, many different point-and-shoot digital cameras (I'm head of a college photography club). My recommendation is a Canon PowerShot camera; I've used several of their models and they were all very good.
What you want to look for in a digital camera is:
A) PICTURE QUALITY. Not all digital cameras are born equally, and picture quality differs significantly. Some digital cameras produce awful, washed-out colours, grainy detailing or have whitewashing flashes. Go online, look for a few shots produced by some digital cameras (don't trust the little viewfinder on the actual camera), and decide from there. IMO, the Canon PowerShot series produce the most lifelike pictures.
B) EASE OF PICTURE-TAKING. There is usually a pause between the shutter release and when you can see the finished product on the viewfinder, because the computer has to save the image on hard memory. A long pause can be irritating, because you want to see your photo quickly so that if there's an error, you can take another one ASAP. Go to a store and try the cameras out to see if you like the ease of picture-taking.
C) GOOD AUTO-FOCUS. As well, some cameras are more effective with their auto-focus than others; it's a pain when you take a photo, think it's fine on the viewfinder, and bring it home to find that it's slightly out of focus. Unfortunately, the PowerShot doesn't have the best auto-focus; several photos I've taken have come out fuzzy, when I thought they'd be fine.
D) PHYSICAL DESIGN. Are you specifically looking for a tiny camera, or is a bigger one OK? What I really like about the Canon PowerShot is that, although it's larger and heavier than other digital cameras you can get, it turns out to be an advantage because it has a great grip, which helps you weight-balance the camera and take steadier photos. So don't be turned off by its bulky design.
E) RESOLUTION: This may or may not be important to your needs. The higher the resolution, the larger the image you can print (and hence the more detailed the photo). I myself sometimes print 8x10 images or even larger, so I need a high-resolution camera: 3.2 megapixels at least. But it's not the be-all and end-all if you're not planning to make large prints.
F) OPTIONS. Don't be charmed by the video-shooting option: most digital cameras have this these days, and frankly it's just a novelty because the picture quality is never great, so you'll most likely never watch those videos again.
What you might want, on the other hand, are options that will help you, as a novice with a point-and-shoot, take better pictures. The PowerShot, for example, has the very useful Night Photography setting, which helps avoid the dreaded "cave dweller" pictures (where the subject is all bright and the background room is all dark). Under this setting, the flash goes off first and the shutter remains open for longer, waiting for the light hitting the background to bounce back through the shutter.
If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me or ask them here.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
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