Apple’s Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy: the most honest I've seen and a model for all

This morning, I read Apple's Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy. It is among the most honest I've seen, and a model for all entities that receive proposals, bids and feedback from external parties.

Two paragraphs, in particular, struck me: the TERMS OF IDEA SUBMISSION and PRODUCT FEEDBACK >> Feedback and Information. Here are the details:

TERMS OF IDEA SUBMISSION

You agree that: (1) your ideas will automatically become the property of Apple, without compensation to you, and (2) Apple can use the ideas for any purpose and in any way, even give them to others.

PRODUCT FEEDBACK

Feedback and Information

Any feedback you provide at this site shall be deemed to be non-confidential. Apple shall be free to use such information on an unrestricted basis.

I am forwarding this post to a pair of clients, with whom I was just discussing these issues. The partners recently hired me to certify their professional practice as a women-owned business, then expanded my role to squeeze the certification for all it's worth.

Both were smart moves. But then, they're brainy babes.

One partner had attended one of my seminars at the SBA (United States Small Business Administration) District Office in New York. It was either: "Want to Be a Millionaire (Or Just a Survivor)? Success Strategies for Serious Suppliers" or "Tolliver's Top Ten C's For Small Business Success."

No matter. Both seminars addressed the abundance of opportunities, tremendous benefits and how-to's associated with certifying small, women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned and otherwise "disadvantaged" businesses. That is, for suppliers who can qualify for, capture and competently manage contracts.

My classes covered certain precautions, too. Which inspired this post.

An ugly facet of contracting is the riskiness associated with submitting proposals to almost ANY entity. One concern is the effort required to prepare proposals that may not be accepted. Sometimes the winners are the most qualified bidders (either by price, qualifications or both), and sometimes they are not.

Surely, you're not shocked. There's been lots of press about contracts that have been inappropriately steered to preferred suppliers (some qualified, some not).

However, there is a greater concern. No amount of intellectual property protections or confidentiality clauses can prevent inappropriate appropriation of proposers' content, including trade secrets and pricing schemes.

Sometimes, in fact, bidding and information-gathering processes are initiated specifically to elicit best practices for use by pre-designated entities. Those entities may be favored suppliers or even the issuers of the Request For Information, Proposal or Quotation (RFI, RFP or RFQ, respectively).

Of course, some organizations and staff are above reproach. But I've personally witnessed and heard about many bad apples. That's why the frankness of Apple's Unsolicited Idea Submission Policy, albeit hard to swallow, is just what the doctor ordered.

It's strike three for Miss New York and she says she's out

PHOTO SOURCE: VH1.COM

Tonight was the night. The I Love New York reunion aired twice on VH1. It lived down to the precedents - of bad taste, of dubious realism, and of dumping Miss New York - that were set on The Flavor of Love series that spawned it.

Reaching low on VH1 has proven time and again to generate record-high ratings. Tonight was no exception.

Count me among the viewers.

Now, not only has Flavor Flav (William "Rico" Drayton) dumped Miss New York (Tiffany Pollard) twice on cable TV's highest-rated shows to-date, rapper/suitor Tango (Patrick Hunter) has kicked her to the curb, too. And on her own show, where she's (supposed to be) HBIC, no less!

As of tonight's show, it's strike three for Miss New York and, Tiffany told VH1 Host LaLa (who had issues of her own), she's taking herself out of the game of looking for love on TV.

Good thinking! No one should count on happy endings like those of Survivor's Amber Brkich Mariano (who married fellow Survivor contestant Rob Mariano in May 2005), and The Bachelorette's Trista Rehn (who married on air suitor Ryan Sutter in December 2003).

Finally, after three humiliating TV seasons, New York may have learned a thing or two. ONE: Even a show's star does not call all the shots, especially in the final episodes. In the I Love New York reunion show, LaLa [who the directors remote-controlled like a puppet on a string (read: wireless earbud)] had more say-so than New York, who couldn't even get Pumkin (Brooke Thompson, who was promoting Charm School, which followed) kicked off the set or keep Tango (who had no further obligations to VH1, that I know of) on it. But I'm skipping ahead.)

TWO: As The Springer Hustle backstage scoop reveals, participants in reality and trash TV shows are fair game for whatever ratings-whorish (and oh, so successful) tactics the producers choose to adopt. That truism has applied throughout the history of reality television and game shows, such as Candid Camera, The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.

An important third lesson New York should have, but did not, learn is: don't diss others cuz it'll come back to haunt you. View the Trendz' New York Diss music video, "I Still Love New York."

An opening announcement by LaLa set the tone of tonight's reunion. Jersey (Bryant), Pootie (Lamonty Council) and Rico (Sandro Padrone) couldn't be there, she explained, because one was in jail, one was on crutches and one had issues. She left it to viewers to guess who was whom.

More trash and flash followed. From Miss New York's strip club-worthy entrance, to footage and discussion of 12 Pack (David Amerman) and Heat's (Jason Rosell) Party Boys Tour, the video clip of Heat's mother and yaya dissing New York, Romance (Ricky Perillo)'s bizarre exchange with New York and introduction of his new (canine) love, and the fighting words and postures exchanged among Tango (Patrick Hunter), White Boy (Joshua Gallander) and Chance (Kamal Givens) the I Love New York reunion showed the depths to which the show's producers and participants were willing to dredge to elevate exposure and ratings.

The most shocking segment was Tango's public disengagement from New York. When he first saw her (after months of separation since the show's finale, when he proposed), he greeted the woman he'd kneeled before on international TV by slobbing her down and then cuddling up with her onstage.

However, their love-seat soon became a hot-seat and Tango "lost his sexy" when VH1 ran footage showing Miss New York (and her mother) dissing him harder than his rivals had. "I fell in love with Tiffany," Tango sneered, after backing away from her, "but I got New York." [...] "It's over."

(View the videos of what aired...
VH1.com Blog....and what didn't. The clips that didn't make the cut show sides of Tiffany and Michelle that make their on air behavior seem demure.)

VH1.com Blog

Tango also raged, as he stormed off set, that he would permit no one to disrespect his mother (as Tiffany and Sister Patterson had).

Horrified and crushed, New York told Chance (who she was was built like a python), "I should have [f*ck!n] chose [sic] you!"

Tango's response: he told his former rival, "You're good to go, pimp" (meaning New York was back on the market), and shook the smiling Chance's hand.

Tiffany, obviously shocked and stung by Tango's behavior, belittled the "two inch" anatomy of the man who, she'd cooed earlier, was the perfect fit. It will be her shriveling retort, not Tango's god-awfully bad behavior, that will make it hard - if impossible - for the match made in VH1 ratings heaven to ever reunite.

And maybe that's a good thing. Tango's fuse seems longer than Chance's, but once lit, it makes him equally volatile.

Ironically, just before Tango's tantrum, Miss New York said she'd chosen him because he (unlike Chance) could help her become more mature. Apparently, Tiffany had missed or ignored the reality that Tango's willingness to tolerate, and even engage in, Miss New York's drama bode poorly for a mature, healthy or long-term relationship.

Unfortunately, Tango got that memo while onstage (or before). His less than discreet or gallant reaction to it, proved my point publicly and painfully.

The unexpected drama rivalled that of the two Flavor of Love finales combined. So did Miss New York's humiliation.

Apparently, it wasn't enough that she sat in the wrong seat after her racy entrance, that she was tricked into kissing Mr. Boston's (Lee Marks') twin brother (Ben) and commenting that he's still the best kisser, or that she had to share a stage with Pumkin, who not only spit on her but is now hot and heavy with Mr. Boston.

Nope. Tango trampled all over whatever shreds of dignity New York might have had tucked deep down in her newly expanded decolletage. And to add insult to ratings-generating injury, VH1 aired it and backstage happenings for the world to see, gloat and blog about.

Runner-up Chance offered New York sympathetic words of support. (He could personally identify with being strung along and then dumped on TV.) LaLa invited him onstage with her and the crying New York to save the day, but true to the boundaries he erected after being eliminated, Chance confined himself to his couch and his gestures to urging New York not to cry.

Fan reactions to the show's outcome were mixed. Mine follow.

Putting time on a couch wouldn't be a bad idea for multiple participants in tonight's show. No doubt they could negotiate a group discount with Pootie's therapist or the shrinks who counsel Survivors who, torches snuffed, take the walk of shame.

ON STAGE: As in 'American Idol', the audience and judges select The Strawberry One-Act Festival winners

They're baaack! The audience, judges and wild card have spoken: Welcome to Norway's cast and crew are survivors. They have advanced from last week's round in the 12th annual Strawberry One-Act Festival to the next.

The next showdown will be staged tonight at Manhattan Island's Riant Theater. Check the schedule.

As I posted in "Kissing and Telling," Welcome to Norway (by writer-director Robin Anne Joseph) is about a woman (played by Laura Maggie Kramer) who "discovers a powerful lesson about life's destinations and how to accept it." Also acting up acting out acting again in the production will be my pal, Stephen Plaushin.

Although thespian rather than musical, the Riant Theater's competition smacks of American Idol (sans Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest, of course), but it's better. According to the Riant Theater website:

The Strawberry One-Act Festival [...] is a play competition in which the audience and the theatre's judges cast their votes to select the best play of the season. Twice a year, hundreds of plays from across the country are submitted for the competition, of which 40 are chosen to compete. Plays move from the 1st round to the semi-finals and then the finals. The playwright of the winning play receives a grant and the opportunity to have a full-length play developed by the Riant.

Van Dirk Fisher created the Strawberry One-Act Festival a dozen years ago to find and nurture best-in-class talent. I'm sure he also recognized it as a good device to garner attention and revenues for the competition's venue. The same can be said for FOX-TV's creators of American Idol (which debuted less than a decade ago).

Despite their similarities, the series' philosophies and approach differ drastically. The Strawberry Festival's producers publicize the competition at the Riant Theater as "a wonderful opportunity for the audience and the industry alike to see some of the best talent in the nation." The festival staff cherry-picks the Strawberry Festival entries and presents only the best-in-class contenders. Submissions that don't pass muster never see the lights of the Riant's stage, and consequently are never seen by the festival's audience. And the audience - although involved (they vote by ballott) - is tame and civilized.

American Idol drums up drama differently. Each season, early episodes of the hit FOX-TV reality series feature the show's talent-shopping spree and weeding-out process. Ratings are spiced by screening samplings of well-done, medium-well, and bloody-bad performances. Selected performers who make the cut are served, like raw meat, to the judges and TV viewers, whose worst remarks couldn't possibly rival Simon Cowell's notoriously cutting, sometimes vicious comments.

If the Strawberry One-Act Festival suits your palate, check it out. Two flavors are available: sit down and take out.

Admission to sit down in the theater costs $20-$25. To take out, view the productions online at www.therianttheatre.com/video the day after they are performed on the boards.

To Stevie and company: break a leg!