Canon announced a new update of the Digital Rebel, called the "Digital Rebel XTi", it features a 10.2 mega-pixel sensor that uses an "ultra-sonic vibration" to remove dust particles from the surface of its pixel sites. This competes with the same sort of technology found in Olympus DSLRs and the new Sony "Alpha" as well. We can expect to see more competition in this feature soon. Here's a picture of their new baby:

Here is what Canon has to say about this technology:

"To combat against stray dust that enters the camera and adheres to the image sensor during a lens change, the Digital Rebel XTi features an all-new, Canon-designed Self Cleaning Sensor Unit. The low pass filter cleans itself automatically with ultrasonic vibrations, removing dust from the sensor assembly." (from the Canon website)

Canon's software, "Digital Photo Professional" (version 2.2) also comes with a dust filter technology in it that most likely uses interpolation to remove dust spots. This might cause some unwanted softness in images, like some of the results you will get from poorly designed noise filtering software. I have not seen before and after shots in the flesh, so to speak, but, the representation of this technology on Canon's website looks good.

There are other new enhancements to the Digital Rebel XTi, including more accurate auto-focus, 27 frame burst-mode, and it sports a 2.5 inch LCD. If you are looking for a great value in a digital SLR, this one will be high on the list and there is a huge supply of lenses for every type of shooting possible.