The SEC alleges that 3001 AD, LLC and these individuals raised approximately $20 million from about 500 investors nationwide through a maze of unregistered offerings that hyped the company’s supposedly promising virtual reality products, including a helmet system tracking players’ head movements to provide a 360-degree view in a video game. Investors were told in the offering materials that the sales commissions paid on their investments were dramatically less than they actually were. An imminent Initial Public Offering (IPO) was repeatedly hyped to investors while no steps were actually being taken toward going public. And prestigious business relationships between 3001 AD and Microsoft, Apple, and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner were touted to investors even though such relationships never existed.

Turns out the promised profits, like the professed products, were virtual.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

That should have been it. But oh no….

From Subject Size Received 
Angie’s List Thanks For Visiting Angie’s List 10 KB 4:41 PM 
Angie’s List Thanks For Visiting Angie’s List 10 KB 4:34 PM 
Angie’s List Thanks For Visiting Angie’s List 10 KB 4:33 PM 
Angie’s List Thanks For Visiting Angie’s List 10 KB 4:25 PM 
Angie’s List Thanks For Visiting Angie’s List 10 KB 4:04 PM 

This afternoon I’ve received 20 emails from Angie. She’s apparently concerned that I didn’t choose to sign up and wanted to explain why the fees are necessary. OK, I’m fine with Angie wanting to make her pitch. But 20 times? Oh wait, there’s another one coming in …

That’s simply too much….

Fortunately, Angie was kind enough to leave her toll free number. And one of her assistants explained that their IT server is acting up this afternoon. No, I was assured, this was not woman’s vendetta against me deciding against giving her my money. Apparently I’m not alone in seeing my email server filled up with pleas from Angie this afternoon.

I’ll forgive for now… but I do hope it ends soon.

-Steve Lackmeyer, Business Writer

The FDIC has issued a warning about a scam email that claims to be from the Federal Reserve Bank. Don’t fall for it. If you get the email, don’t click on the links contained within. This is what it may look like:

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

Important:

You’re getting this letter in connection with new directives issued by U.S. Treasury Department. The directives concern U.S. Federal Wire online payments.

On On January 1, 2009 a large-scaled phishing attack started and has been still lasting. A great number of banks and credit unions is affected by this attack and quantity of illegal wire transfers has reached an extremely high level.

U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in common worked out a complex of immediate actions for the highest possible reduction of fraudulent operations. We regret to inform you that definite restrictions will be applied to all Federal Wire transfers from January 6 till January 16.

Here you can get more detailed information regarding the affected banks and U.S. Treasury Department restrictions:

The FDIC says the message contains links to two Web pages that attempt to load malicious Trojan horse programs onto users’ computers.

The FDIC further advises consumers, businesses and financial institutions to be aware that Fedwire operations are not restricted and are operating as normal, and to take the following precautions:

• If an end user received the e-mail and clicked on any of the links, fully scan the computer using updated anti-virus software. If malicious code is detected on the computer, consult with a computer security or anti-virus specialist to remove the malicious code or re-install a clean image of the computer system.
• Be aware that phishing e-mails frequently have links to Web pages that host malicious code and software. Do not follow Web links in unsolicited e-mails from apparent federal banking agencies. Instead, bookmark or type the agency’s Web address.
• Always use anti-virus software and ensure that the virus signatures are automatically updated. Ensure that the computer operating systems and common software applications security patches are installed.
• Do not open unsolicited or unexpected e-mail attachments because of the risk of malicious code or software in the attachments. Instead, call the agency using a known and appropriate telephone number to verify the legitimacy of the message and attached file.
• Be alert to different variations of the fraudulent e-mails.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

YouTube tweaked their display on Monday, expanding their videos to 960 pixels and giving them a widescreen look.

Videos that aren’t in the 16:9 aspect ratio will be hit with black bars on the side. That includes most videos at this point.

But what is YouTube driving at?

The site is getting ready for some of its legit partnerships with real entertainment companies to blossom.  Up soon are full-length movies from MGM.

YouTube is playing catchup with Hulu, the competitor launched by NBC and Fox last year to keep their copyrighted videos (ie “Family Guy” and “Saturday Night Live”) out of the clutches of YouTubers.

Hulu’s speed to market with some great product - I watched all four hours of “Lawrence of Arabia” on the site last week and regularly use it for episodes of “House” – left YouTube looking flat-footed and appealing to the teens-with-webcams set.

If they can clean house a little bit – and changing the look and of the player can add a lot to that – then YouTube can become yet another legit distribution channel for media companies.

Mike Koehler
Multimedia Editor

 Wired’s Gadget blog asks:

Is it even possible for a machine to take that long to get going? Maybe these people are working on some kind of mechanical Babbage engines and need to coax the cogs into meshing every morning. We doubt it. If their computers are really that far gone, we can think of just one thing — they’ve been visiting some very dodgy sites during work hours and gotten infected with all kinds of malware. Which, in turn, means that they have been surfing porn on work time, and should shut up about a few nickels.

 I’ll admit there is little that is more frustrating than waiting 15 minutes for Windows updates as my computer shuts down when I’m trying to get out of the office. But I’ve never been tempted to file a lawsuit.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Leave it to The Onion to break down the competition between two computer operating systems that don’t even exist yet.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

For instance, Google Docs put a word processor and spreadsheet on your computer directly from the Web without paying one dime for a license fee.  Google calendar lets companies create and share calendars within departments or across the entire corporation.  

Now Google is introducing the latest — and maybe the biggest — blast at Microsoft. It is releasing its own Internet browser, named “Google Chrome.”  Among many features, the open-source browser features a “java virtual machine” and tabbed browsing that almost everyone in the world except certain IT departments has embraced.  

Here is a link to a blog that provides some details about the new browser.

 Jim Stafford 

Business Reporter 

 This just in:  Google Chrome has been released in beta only for Windows XP and Vista operating systems. Sorry Macheads (for now).

Herbert H. Thompson used a bit of guile and took advantage of some slack security to steal the identity of a friend who naively believed her information was impenetrable. It’s a cautionary tale.

For many of us, the abundance of personal information we put online combined with the popular model of sending a password reset e-mail has our online security resting unsteadily on the shoulders of one or two e-mail accounts.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

I found only 15 listings from Toyota Prius buyers, which ranged from the low $20,000s to just over $30,000. Perhaps it will improve with more time and more participants.

I haven’t delved into this site in-depth yet, so me know if you’ve found it useful or useless.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer