Business: Loose change

IS THERE FREE POPCORN?: A California company is developing theaters in malls where shoppers will be treated to free showings of eye-popping, high-definition ... commercials.

POKE-SUIT: When you invent hundreds of characters for kids there's no end to the merchandise you can sell. But you also might need hundreds of lawyers. Video gamemaker Nintendo has sued the owners of 55 Web addresses for infringing on its Pokemon game by registering Web sites, such as Charizard.net and Jigglypuff.com, named after the game's legion of characters.

FREE OLDS, ANYONE?: Oldsmobile is offering an unprecedented deal in what may be a last-ditch effort to move its cars: zero down, no payments and no interest for one full year. If this doesn't work, some analysts think GM may phase out the venerable brand.

A MONUMENTAL HOME: Hearst Castle, the ornate California estate built by publisher William Randolph Hearst, topped a reader's poll for top U.S. monument in Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Among the runners-up: Mount Rushmore, the Pearl Harbor Memorial and the space center at Cape Canaveral.

FEUDING DIVAS: Microsoft has stripped product manager Stacy Elliot of her official title, Digital Diva, after a complaint that the title belonged to a North Carolina group. Those Digital Divas advise neophytes on using the Internet.

CAN'T MISS IT: New rules from the Federal Reserve Board will make it harder for credit card companies to hide the pain they extract from customers. Annual percentage rates for purchases will have to be in type THIS BIG.

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