Web Sites

The world's most popular source for illegal music and movie downloading is going legit, but it's far from certain whether consumers or big media companies will embrace it. Pirate Bay, a Sweden-based website that indexes and links to millions of unauthorized copyrighted files on the Internet, has agreed to be acquired by Global Gaming Factory, a Swedish operator of Internet cafes, for $7.8 million.

Los Angeles County officials this week launched a new "solar mapping" website, lacounty.solarmap.org, that lets residents and business owners determine whether their properties would benefit from solar power. The site evaluates a building's potential to generate solar power based on roof size, pitch and shade from nearby trees, buildings and mountains. By typing in an address, users can check a property's roof size, space for solar panels, potential electricity production, electricity savings, carbon reduction, nearby solar installations, utility company rebates and solar panel installer information.

Movie aficionados can add yet another website to their list of online sources of film news with the relaunch today of the entertainment magazine Movieline as an Internet publication. Movieline.com, the digital descendant of the glossy periodical that chronicled the movie industry and evolved into Hollywood Life before ceasing publication last month, will feature "up-to-the-minute blogs, reviews, reader-driven features, comedic commentary and high-profile interviews," the company said.

Old scams never die, they just move to new venues. The Better Business Bureau has put out an alert that many of the dubious ads that have long popped up in e-mails and on websites are now invading online social networks, such as Facebook. Ubiquitous ads for weight-loss products, work-at-home opportunities and offers for "free" computers can cost shoppers more than they bargained for in the long run, the BBB said.

The Web is a great place to freeload. But that could be changing. In the latest example of fees being introduced for a service that once came with no strings attached, Eastman Kodak Co. says it'll begin charging $4.99 to $19.99 annually for its previously free online photo-storage service, Kodak Gallery. If you don't pay by May 16, the company warns, all your photos could be deleted.

Almost as soon as Guang-Yu Xu was laid off from his engineering post at a Silicon Valley Internet company last month, he visited LinkedIn.com and updated his job status from "current" to "past." Through their interconnected contacts, he soon heard from headhunter Robert Greene, one of more than 530,000 recruiters trolling the professional networking site for job candidates. Within a few weeks, Xu had three offers. He started at Mint.com, a personal finance website, two weeks ago.

President Obama will take questions in the East Room of the White House today, but they won't be coming from the Washington press corps. Instead, the questions are being posed by visitors to the White House website, and then vetted by other visitors for their relevance and importance. Those queries that rise to the top of the pile will be posed to the president at 11:30 a.m. EDT, in an order based on popularity, administration officials said.

www.investinginbonds.com If you're reluctant to invest in stocks these days -- and hey, you're not alone -- you may be considering bonds. But with a bewildering variety to choose from, it's easy for new investors to get confused. A good place to start is Investinginbonds.com, produced by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assn. The site offers help for novices as well as tools for experienced bond investors. Newcomers should start with the "learn more" column on the right-hand side.

Times are tough, but bargains are relatively easy these days. You just need to know where to find them and have the dough to spend. The latter, we can't help you with, but we can try with the former with these online tips. (For more, go to theguide.latimes.com.) First, try Goldstar.com, which offers discounted tickets on concerts, theater, performing arts, comedy, festivals and a handful of sporting and dining events, or StubDog.com, which recently entered the L.A. market.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, whose giant globe has been a fixture on the city's skyline for much of the newspaper's 146-year history, will print its last edition today and become the largest metropolitan daily to switch to an online-only publication. The announcement was delivered Monday morning by Publisher Roger Oglesby to a shattered newsroom that -- in classic P-I style -- wiped back tears, broke out the whiskey and then went back to work.