Tom Tom's sat nav offering just got even better, according to Nick over at Gizmodo. Tom Tom Home is their software suite which lets you plan trips in advance, manage points of interest and upload silly voices (just in case you want John Cleese telling you where to go).

Tom Tom Home just got a major upgrade - it now works on both Mac and PC and Nick describes it as "a user-generated content utopia". You can upload your own points of interests as well as download other users POIs and rate other people's content. You can also create your own maps.

Tom Tom Home is a free download (although some of the services it offers are paid) and can be downloaded here.

Tom Tom goes Home 2.0 with New Software [Gizmodo AU]

Here's something which will be music to the ears of the directionally challenged. While the Tom Tom GPS device is quite popular here in Australia, you can't buy the software for your PDA over the counter. However the Bleeding Edge blog has discovered that you can buy the software online:

"You can grab a copy of the software itself straight from their website - you just have to buy the maps. To buy the Australian map, click "Maps" on the left of their home page, then "Buy Now". Select "NAVIGATOR 6" as your product, then "Map of Australia", and then go through the usual checkout process. It'll cost you $150, which is a pretty good deal for such a useful program."

Sounds like a good solution if you don't want to buy yet *another* gadget.

Buying Tom Tom in Australia [Bleeding Edge]

Technology publisher O'Reilly has a nice write-up of how to make a really dynamic Google custom search engine for whatever topic you want.
A Google custom search engine is a great way to supercharge your searches and make them more targeted - the example in the article is for recipes, but you can go nuts and whip one up for vintage toys, anime soundtracks, eBay tweaks...the possibilities are endless. This particular tutorial will help you really make the most of your personal search engine; it goes way beyond the simple instructions that Google gives you.