Not sure how many people will be interested in this, maybe quite a lot, since a lot of people have Canon compacts!

Basically, there is a set of free open-source tools that you can install in your Canon compact. They let you do stuff you never could do before, like:

1) Record RAW files (actually more useful for compacts than for DSLRs!)

2) Bracketing

3) Motion detection

4) Live histograms

5) Depth-of-field calculator and various composition grids

5) Overriding the limits on shutter speeds and ISO

6) Make a simple remote shutter release out of a USB cable!

And loads more stuff. I really recommend giving it a look. Alledgedly one can do crazy things like get shutter speeds of 1/60,000 with flash sync! The whole thing is endlessly customisable.

Here's a link to their wiki:

[link]

Have fun!