RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool) is a free windows tool that does extreme photo compression without noticeably damaging the quality of the image. It’s useful for keeping the load times down on your blog.

Diagram.ly is a free online version of Visio, for creating flowcharts, mind maps and other diagrams. Nice stuff.

Here’s a nice list of forty free ebook tools for authors.

I really like the idea of an iPad, but don’t want to join the Apple Cult. There’s also for me the issue of a lack of multitasking, Flash, SD card support and USB. The lack of an SD card slot is a killer for me. One of the things I would want to do with a tablet is to use it as a portable photo editor and gallery.

But what else is there? As it turns out, a lot. There’s a list of Seven Alternatives to the iPad here.

Here’s what I want in a tablet:

WiFi (naturally)
SD Card Support
USB
Multitasking
Windows Operating system (so I can run familiar apps, and so I can insert my Sprint U300 3G Modem and get a connection anywhere.)
Long battery life (6+ hours)
Swappable Battery

The only other thing I’d consider buying in a tablet is one that runs on the Palm WebOs. I think that’s a natural fit, and I’m surprised Palm hasn’t jumped into the market. It can’t be much of a technological leap to take the Palm Pre and blow it up to ten inches. They could have one out by the fall if they wanted.

Web Resizer is a useful tool for bloggers. It takes a photo that you’ve uploaded and shrinks the file size down to a web-friendly size. I’ve been doing this with the Microsoft Office Photo tool on my desktop, but it’ll be useful to have one that I can use when I’m out and about with my netbook. The program also lets you do some basic tweaks.