The Application Process

I recently interviewed with an alumni of a school I was applying to, and he gave me the advice to call admissions to ask a question - any question - to show that I'm really interested in the program, thus adding another positive mark to my profile. Is this a good practice? I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and bother admissions during an incredibly busy time. Does this advice apply to all programs?

There is no harm in calling up the admissions if you have a genuine query which is important. For example there is some facet of program you are not clear about, such as, placement scenario for a particular profile, or a query about which international faculty will teach courses with your specific area of interest. If adcom knows they will answer your query or will direct you to specific department. But this does not make a case for calling just for the sake of it. Calling adcom and asking random questions does no good to your admissions cause.

I have a weird situation. I interviewed with the adcom on 20th Dec. Since then some parts of my profile changed considerably.

Two of the tools I created have been qualified for patent and is currently with my company's legal team. And I have made some progress on a extracurricular activity which is in line with my long term goal.

Are these a good reason to email them, so that I can expect a favorable response?

i disagree with a statement above this "placement scenario for a particular profile" is not a reason to call the admissions committee. I wouldn't even call them actually, an email is better. They can print out the email and add it to your file. The likelihood of them remembering what you told them in an email is incredibly low.

Re: the updating profile through email because of patents and stuff... YES those are the things that the adcom wants to hear updates about! go for it