With the gift-giving holidays now past, we come to the end of a great year: 2008. This year we've seen some pretty cool tech breakthroughs edging their way closer to public use, like the incredibly fast USB 3.0 and flexible LED screens. Twitter, a new rapid communications tool, has become very popular this year and has been utilized to bring some groundbreaking news to the world, like the Mumbai terrorist attacks and the recent airplane incident in Denver, Colorado. But so much of this has already been said, or will be said countless times as the new year will begin. Let's look at something more useful.

After the holidays, stores are less than excited about their sales records this season. As the economy went deeper and became problematic, sales hit lower records and apparently this season has been the worst since about 1970. What this means for you, is that stores will be more inclined to drop prices on gadgets and other tech in hopes to excite sales as the new year starts. So, whatever you were hoping for from the holidays of '08, you now have a chance to get it at a lower price here in '09.

Knowing this, let's talk about one of the more-popular gifts that were given during this past holiday season: digital cameras. They come in a variety of sizes, brands, and they each have their own pros and cons. But let's focus on the things and features that you should check out and consider when you go shopping for a brand new digital camera:

Megapixels -
This has been for a long time the most important factor when purchasing a new digital camera: what megapixel count should I consider?
Mega pixel is the term used to describe how many digital image sensors the camera has, or ultimately how high of a resolution the camera can capture for an image. It goes like this: the higher the resolution / megapixel count, the “better” or more capable a camera is. However, not every user needs a camera with a count of 10 or even 8-megapixels; eventually, some counts are just overkill for what the consumer intends to use it for. Some people say that a count of 6-megapixels is a good standard for common use, they are capable of producing quality images in printable sizes up to 11” x 14”. Even though higher count cameras are more commonplace these days it might be worth the savings to look at something a little less powerful.

Digital or Optical Zoom -
Now this is the question that you should really be asking yourself when you're browsing for cameras: should I get digital or optical zoom, which one is better?
Digital zoom can be found in popular digital cameras of the past, but it's not what you should be looking for. Digital zoom takes the view of the image and crops the image down as a way to “simulate” the zoom, which negatively affects the finished resolution of an image. All in all, this is not a true form of zooming.
Optical zoom is what you should look for in a new digital camera. Optical zoom scales an image more like a traditional camera, with an optical lens to focus in on elements in your picture. This does not affect the finished resolution at all, and still captures the full pixel count that your camera is capable of. So remember, optical zoom is the way to go.

Storage Media -
Digital cameras use a range of formats in order to store their captured images. Your best bet on a format that is easily transferable and found on most modern devices, especially new notebooks, is the Secure Digital (SD) cards. SD cards use flash memory, which is a very cheap and fast way to store a decent amount of data. But if you really want to get your money's worth, look for a camera that is SDHC capable (Secure Digital High Capacity). SDHC is like an unlocked version of SD, which increases the maximum data capacity of the card to an incredible amount; theoretically, a SDHC card can hold up to 2-Terabytes (2,000GB) of data! Although a card of that capacity is some time length away from common use, you could find an 8GB card at a reasonable price today. You just might have to buy an adapter that reads the SDHC format, as it's not guaranteed that any SD reader would recognize it.

Battery -
One of the final things to consider is whether or not you'd like to be restricted to a rechargeable battery, or if you'd like to re-buy batteries over the lifetime of the camera. With a camera that uses a rechargeable battery your use may be more restrictive to the lifetime of the battery, and how many spare, charged batteries you carry with you during prolonged use. If you choose a camera that uses common batteries that you can find in nearly every store, then you'll have the freedom to use a camera as much as you can afford, but you'd also be wasting money in the long run and probably buying the camera two or three times over by the time you get a new one. Also, if being environmentally sensitive is a priority to your lifestyle, disposable batteries are an easy way to waste resources and introduce into the environment harmful by products.
With all of this considered, I suggest buying one that utilizes disposable batteries that are easy to find in stores, but to also invest in some rechargeable batteries so that you get the best of both worlds.