It turns out that not only Microsoft is having loads of rants about their operating system. But at least they are now on their way to Windows 7 after they had learned their lessons in launching their Windows Vista.

The same is true with Adobe. Adobe users had even launched their own gripe system. Web designer Erik Frick put up this simple Dear Adobe site for Adobe software users to list down their gripes on the software. The gripe system is not simply a list of complaints - other Adobe users can come to vote for or against the gripe that another person had listed.

Screaming by ralaenin (SXC)

What’s good about this gripe is that Adobe learned about this whole affair and listened. Photoshop Principal Product Manager John Nack participated in these gripes by responding to these.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? I have the same set of gripes with its users; here’s some that I like, most of these gripes came from the top 50 list:

• (Number 1) “Why does the Acrobat Reader take two minutes to launch, and require updates twice a month, just to display PDF pages?” # 289
• (Number 4) “Please create an installer that puts your software on my computer in less time than it takes to install an operating system.” # 403
• (Number 19) “Why does Photoshop cost as much as a pre-owned small car? Drop the price please!!” # 215
• (Number 33) “Please don’t copy Microsoft’s naming and bundling conventions. I want CS3 not CS3 pro, CS3 pro advantage, CS3 pro plus, CS3 no frills, CS3 pro max, CS3 pro extra pro max…” # 366
• (New) NO NEW FEATURES. That’s the last thing your bloated, convoluted, poorly-defined, and crash-prone products need. This is the design industry. Refine and simplify. # 644

Now this is the perfect opportunity to launch a gripe against Adobe, isn’t it?

Sometimes I wish I were one famous superhero that can soar above the skies to save lives. Unfortunately flying superheroes are far from happening in the real world. Eventually I realized that the true superheroes are the people I often interact with each day.

Perhaps a superhero can be that of a woman who plans ahead in saving lives. C’elle captures this miracle of saving lives; their kits are provided as a means for women to help save lives in their own superhero way - by simply saving some adult stem cells for future use.

I learned more about the science of this technology in C’elle. I never imagined that the stem-cell research would eventually come to the point where taking out healthy adult stem cells is made easily through a woman’s mentrual period. After all, this womanly bodily fluid is simply washed off to waste each month.

The C’elle Client Testimonial helps give an understanding the benefits of stem cell technology. I think this method goes beyond the limitations of medicines and surgery. By using stored stem cells diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases gets to have a good future with this treatment. A good chance of success is seen when the person with the disease happens to be a relative of the donor.

In a way, a woman who decides to keep her stem cells to C’elle for future use becomes a superhero in her right.

Who doesn’t love awards?

I guess this is what I get for some effort in making new friends to a number of bloggers in Entrecard. One of my frequent visitors, Pastilan, a free man From The Jack of All Trades, gave me this Kick Ass Blogger Award yesterday because he finds this blog informative. He likes my posts on freelancing and blogging, and he admires my currently-chosen chocolate-flavored blog layout.

Now I feel so happy. Thank you so much Pastilan for pointing out that I really kicked some ass (and I hope yours doesn’t hurt).

Now I’ve carefully chosen my bloggers to give this kick-ass treat:

• Rosemarie of My Journey: I never thought I’ll be striking a virtual friendship with this pretty single mom. Single moms seemed a rare find in the blogosphere.
• Betchai of San Diego Backroads: I’m a big fan of her travel adventures in San Diego. She takes amazing snapshots of this place. One look at her site and I feel so relaxed. I’m glad she’s another frequent visitor of this blog.
• PinoyCopyWriter: He is the mysterious author behind this blog. His recent post on Michael Phelps Way to Become a Good Copywriter is my personal favorite. If you happen to be a freelancer then that post is a good one to inspire not only freelance copywriters but other freelancers as well.
• MJ of Sagada Philippines: I was wrong to think that this blogger was from Sagada and writes about his hometown, but he turned out to a big fan and frequent visitor of this wonderful place in the highlands. It is quite a shame that I’ve never been to Sagada yet: even if it looks like this place is near my current location, one has to take the longer route to see the magnificent sights.

I’m supposed to give one more award, but just like Pastilan my world is small… yet.

Pastilan’s From the Jack of All Trades blog led me to discover his newest blog, Violet Moon. It looks like I’m going to see some graphic art creations unfold. I hope to see more posts - he is really talented.

By the way this kick-ass blogger award was brought to you by Mammadawg.

To my chosen ones who received this award, you may pass this kick-ass award to other bloggers with these rules in mind:

• Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are “Kick Ass Bloggers”
• Let ‘em know via email, twitter or blog comments that they’ve received an award
• Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to MammaDawg to get the code for the kick ass image.

Do you know that LASIK procedure get better and affordable?

LASIK procedure has been known for more than a decade. It is not something considered as a technological breakthrough. This technology was first developed in the 1950s by a Colombian ophthalmologist. Decades of further studies led to the vast improvement of this technology.

The NASA and the US military had been requiring their personnel to undergo LASIK technology procedure to improve their vision. These institutions have been doing this for over five years. This increases the performance of their personnel because they do not have to bother with glasses and contact lenses anymore.

iLASIK finally brings this wonderful technology to all. The technology uses two LASER beams instead of one to “open” the cornea and perform the vision correction. The entire process only takes 20 minutes and in many cases, improved vision is immediately noticed.

If you happen to be in need of this eye procedure, then don’t be among the others who stay out from this procedure. Knowing more about LASIK information definitely clears off any misinformation associated with this great technology. The procedure is not as costly as it once had been, and there are other options available to help fund such costs.

photo credit: greyman (SXC)

UPDATE: I have two blogs that I am promoting using Entrecard. I manage to drop 300 ECs for each blog.

Can You Drop Entrecards in 15 minutes?

No I could not. I hope I do. But It always took me about 30 minutes to an hour to do the maximum drops Entrecard can allow to a single blog. I can just tell my way of dropping the maximum 300 limit Entrecards at a faster rate.

I have been doing the drops for more than a month. I am not able to drop every day, but I get to manage dropping 300 cards (per blog) in one sitting.

That’s one of my Entrecard statistics. It shows on the number of Entrecards drops that I am able to do each day. Whenever I do my Entrecard chores I always manage to make it to the maximum 300 drops (I only have single blog - this one - registered at Entrecard).

Interested? Here’s how I do the (almost) daily Entrecard drops:

Install and Configure ImgLikeOpera

I had to install ImgLikeOpera or ImgLikeOpera Reloaded add-on which can be downloaded from Mozilla add-ons site.

I have to set the options or settings of this add-on. Under “Cache, misc” select “Don’t load images” for the “default policy for new window/tab”.

Go to “Filters”, add the following to the filter list by filling out the “filter” and choosing the corresponding “filter policy”:

• http://entrecard.com, policy 1
• http://entrecard.s3.amazonaws.com, policy 1

Once that ImgLikeOpera is enabled and set to “don’t load images”, I am ready to drop while it’s hot!

Dropping Using the Inbox Drops

The fastest way to open browser windows is to hold down the CTRL key then left-click each Entrecard in my Inbox list. I usually open two rows of Entrecards and wait for the sites to load. Since ImgLikeOpera prevents loading up of images, each sites loads up fast. Sites look uninteresting, but at least each site’s Entrecard is now easier to find. UPDATE: I give utmost priority to the 50 top droppers of the list, then followed by those who drop in the yesterday’s Inbox. The remaining ECs goes to SOME favorite blogs and to new blog sites.

Then I get to drop all the cards until I’m finished. I bookmark sites where I’d plan to advertise, visit and comment along the way. After I’m done with the drops, I revisit these bookmarked sites. But this time, I disable the ImgLikeOpera add-on so that I can see the beauty of each site.

Oh! Before you go be sure to turn off ImgLikeOpera add-on after making the EC drops. In my end my Firefox does not work well with the add-on enabled.

What’s your way of making Entrecard drops?