Are you interested in getting serious about photography or just looking for something to take decent snapshots? That will answer whether you want to look at DSLRs or point and shoots.
Regardless of what you decide I would suggest looking at
www.kenrockwell.com, he is all about getting a good image and not measurebating camera specs. This is a good place to start,
http://kenrockwell.com/tech/2007-05-what-camera.htm but the rest of the site is full of good information as well.