I think the FZ30 from Panasonic seems right up your street. The versatility of DSLR's but you need not worry about the hassle of lenses. If you go to the
Gallery and then search then put either Gill Catton or Matt_XYZ into the search part where it says search by user you will see their results with this model. Got one this weekend for 360 Boys. So a good price too.
Why do you want to control it via the PC by the way?