the vynsane asylum

Elf wants to get one to support our "project" and I don't know SHIT about them

What are good ones, are they mostly plug-and-play these days, around how much should a "good" one cost??
any help here would be appreciated, tho I have a feeling most of us don't have any use for such things

My family (actually my wife's family) is coming up for Easter. One of her brothers is a hardware guru (though knows nothing about software--he didn't even know how to save files to a CD!), and her niece is a typical spoiled teeniebopper who has all sorts of gadgets she really has no need whatsoever for. I'll ask them for any advice.

Another good source would be amazon.com and circuitcity.com. Not necessarily to buy, but both sites have a wealth of user reviews. Bestbuy.com has a section for reviews, but I've found fewer there; it might be a different story for webcams, though, o yes.