We need to reboot the webserver to apply some updates. It will be down for about 5 minutes. BRB!

Here’s a list of the next round of updates which are now in their final stages of testing and scheduled to go live within the hour baring any last minute issues.

• 1452 – Surgery progress bar is displayed on a newly created model’s account.
• 1535 – The browser button in the photo uploader is not proper in Chrome
• 1569 – New Contest Reliability algorithm
• 1598 – Email notification to contest winner
• 1441 – Able to create multiple blogs if clicking the “Create” button more than once
• 1505 – Validation Error – Able to enter text in the status field even after exceeding the limit
• 1506 – Improper display format in the activity feed if the status message exceeds the limit
• 1453 – Improper display format in the “My Details” section present in the profile page
• 1447 – Improper icon for status message in the activity feed –
• 1567 – Edit profile not always working properly
• 1424 – Calculated local time is incorrect
• 1667 – Redirect Urls with Photoset ID
• 1630 – Fix for Username search
• 1586 – Unable to view the photoset purchased if the model’s account is inactive
• 1588 – Application crashes when importing wishlist
• 1592 – Prevent duplicate subscription purchases
• 1641 – Deleted blog titles should not show in “popular blogs” side-panes
• 1671 – Report User not working
• 1511 – UI Issues – Message – Archive – Search
• 1445 – Profile layout issues

The new chat that I hinted at last time has been delayed for further testing.

Our latest site sponsored photo contest involved creating a MyFreeImplants “Fan Sign” with a Halloween theme. We had over 55 fan signs submitted but these three (3) were the top public vote receiving entries.

Our grand prize goes to Kaylou the “witch”. Kaylou (a previous contest runner up) will receive a $250 donation for her first win!

MFI’s Batman aka Josh is our 1st runner up. It’s always great to see donors enter the photo contests. Josh will receive $150 in MFI boob bucks!

It’s been quite a week for MsBoobyMoon, our 2nd runner up and recipient of a $100 donation. She was a winner in our breast cancer photo contest and was also made a featured girl!

We had dozens of quality entries to our Pink Photo Contest but unfortunately we can only pick three winners. The following ladies were selected based on the effort and creativity of their photos as well as their accompanying story.

The Grand Prize winner with $500 in her name to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure goes to SweetBunny

“My Grandmother died in her early 50′s from breast cancer when I was only about 10 years old. Out of nowhere she began to constantly be sick, and finally went to the doctor. After a complete physical, the doctor found cancer in her breasts. The most unfortunate part is if she would have had regular screenings, her cancer could have been easily treated. Instead, by the time it was caught, the cancer had already started to spread and she died within a year of her diagnosis. Because of the suffering I saw my Grandmother go through, I will never go without getting my regular physicals. Even though I joke that “I would probably notice a 3rd breast next to my mosquito bites,” deep down I know the importance of regular screenings. I’ve only had one family member die of this terrible disease, but One is One Too Many.”

The 2nd Prize winner of $300 to The National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund goes to MissBoobyMoon

“My stepdaughter and I made this picture for the pink ribbon contest. I never had breast cancer, but last year I got another type of cancer. The day I turned 30 I got a letter to go to the doctor. After the visit my doctor called me very worried and told me I have to come to his office A.S.A.P.! The results were not good and I was very shocked to hear that I had cervical cancer. I feel for all the woman who get any type of cancer, so that’s why I felt the big urge to be a part of this contest and show my support! I have to go to the doctor next month to check if I’m cancer free.”

The 3rd Prize winner of $200 to Young Survival Coalition goes to KayDeeStafford

“I have taken the words Breast Cancer and crossed out the the letters R and S. When people look at this photo I want them to see the words BEAT CANCER rather than Breast Cancer. I want to remind everyone that with their continued help and support, we can defeat this illness. Cancer affects the lives of so many people, and sending out a positive message is important; not only to raise awareness and money, but also to give our support to those who are suffering and remind them they can beat this!”

We receive this question a lot, and though it is difficult to diagnose the exact issue without being present with you at your computer, there are a few basic things to ask yourself and keep in mind before attempting to upload your photos to MFI:

1) What browser are you using?

A commonality between some support requests indicating that uploading photos does not work for them is an outdated web browser: Internet Explorer 7. That browser is almost 5 years old now — an eternity in browser technology! We’re currently looking into a fix for this issue, but in the mean time I’d suggest taking a few minutes to upgrade your browser and speed up your browsing experience! I like Google Chrome and the new Mozilla Firefox is pretty great too. Both of them are free, fast, and work on Mac, Windows & Linux.

2) What is the file size of your image?

Before uploading photos to websites (including MFI) it is best practice to optimize them (i.e. resize and compress the images to the smallest file size possible without losing clarity) so that the photo will upload quickly and successfully. Files that come directly off of a digital camera are uncompressed hi-resolution images that are optimized for printing. A computer monitor has far less fidelity (72dpi) than a printed photo (300dpi), so you can safely compress the photo without any noticeable loss in quality. This will greatly reduce the file size of your photo and it will upload a lot faster.

3) What is the dimension of your image?

According to our metrics the largest screen resolution being used is 2560 pixels wide by 1440 pixels tall. But that is less than half of a percent (0.49%) of all the people using the site. Everyone else is using screens that are no wider than 1920 pixels. So if you are trying to upload those photos directly off your digital camera that are 4000+ pixels wide, it’s a complete waste of space and bandwidth. Shrinking the photo down to 1920 pixels max will cut your file size in half and it will still be fully optimized for 99.51% of everyone on MFI! Do yourself a favor and shrink those big photos. It will upload a lot faster, display a lot faster and takes up a lot less room, all while maintaining the same fidelity on a computer screen.

In a recent experiment, a lady who was having problems uploading her 4000×3000 image. It was 4,380kb in size. I opened that same image in Photoshop, shrunk it to 1500 pixels in width and compressed it for the web. The resulting image file size was… a mere 438kb. A 900% savings! It uploaded with no problem at all in the blink of an eye!

There are several tools you can use to optimize your photos. Adobe Photoshop is great, but it is expensive. Here are some free alternatives

* IrfanView (easy and fast)
* Paint.NET (powerful)
* GIMP (like Photoshop)
* ShrinkPictures.com (web-based service)

You can also find some more free online editing programs listed in an archived Mashable.com article here.

If you have switched browsers and/or resized your images but are still having issues uploading photos, please contact us via the support desk and report the problem with as much detail as possible so that we can help you try and resolve the issue. If anyone has any tips on uploading/editing photos they’d like to add, please feel free to share in the comments section below. Thanks!