Carol Anne Ogdin recommends the book "Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow" by Marsha Sinetar. Ogdin's own approach has been to determine what you really want to do or be in life: "something that will make you spring out of bed in the morning." Then figure out who would pay you to do it. Prepare as well as possibly until you can convince the right people that you're available and qualified. [frida[email protected], alt.computer.consultants. Bill Park, 5/29/93.]

"They All Laughed" (HarperCollins, NYU, 1992, 240 pp., $20), Ira Flatow's entertaining new book about 23 major inventions, illustrates how court battles and arbitrary decisions have affected an "odd lot" of inventors. In particular, "by the time the originator is through haggling with patent lawyers and justifying his invention to investors and production engineers, the rest of the world may have caught up. Market success will require further innovation." [Steven J. Frank, Spectrum, 4/93, p. 6.]

"Jealousy and Envy deny the merit or the novelty of your invention; but Vanity, when the novelty and merit are established, claims it for its own ... One would not therefore, of all faculties, or qualities of the mind, wish for a friend, or a child, that he should have that of invention. For his attempts to benefit mankind in that way, however well imagined, if they do not succeed, expose him, though very unjustly, to general ridicule and contempt; and if they do succeed, to envy, robbery, and abuse." -- Ben Franklin, 1775. [Paul Heckel, CACM, 6/92.]

("People will accept your idea much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first." -- David H. Comins.)

A team in a Berkeley class for entrepreneurial students impressed venture capitalists with their preliminary plan for an ID card to activate secure computers. They projected a $20M return by 1995 on an investment of $300K, but reviewers said they weren't asking for enough money. Course instructor Wade Dickinson says that many of these UCB kids can raise $200K just by asking their parents, and can get more from friends and relatives. [Michael Zielenziger, SJM, 5/17/93.] (It's easy to be an entrepreneur with that kind of background, but anyone can learn.)

How much "software engineering" and interface polishing are required to succeed in the business market? Verity's TOPIC software for document retrieval is now supported on 27 hardware platforms, 6 GUIs, 23 native document formats, 5 OSs, and all major LANs and WANs. Verity is still developing R&D ties with major RDBMS, software, and hardware vendors. Sales may reach $383 million by 1994. [Herb Deitz ([email protected]), m.j.o, 7/16/93.]

The Normandeau Newswire would like to publish your ASCII press releases -- especially for weird or wacky items or those featuring New York City. (AI successes are at least unusual!) The Normandeau Newswire is a section of the Invention Factory BBS, (212) 274-8110. Email press releases to Ray Normandeau ([email protected]). [biz.comp.services, 7/13/93. CARR-L.] For more on the Invention Factory, see the feature article on p. 12 of the NYT Business Section (7/19/93).