The Rock The Vote voter registration drive turns to a comics pages icon in the 2008 election year.

A partnership between the classic "Peanuts" by the late Charles Schulz and Rock The Vote features an online mock election in which several characters are running for president. The slate includes Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally and Snoopy.

"Peanuts" was never an overtly political comic strip, but it had a tradition of characters running for office during some election years. Snoopy did pretty well as a write-in candidate in the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections.

Voters can cast online ballots at the "Peanuts" Rocks the Vote site.

The site also lets people monitor the ongoing results state by state. Snoopy is the overall favorite in Pennsylvania and nationwide, although there are a few quirky exceptions: Charlie Brown is leading in Louisiana and Linus is dominating Oregon.

The site also features classic "Peanuts" strips dealing with election and political topics. Other election year tie-ins include the "Political Peanuts" exhibit running through Dec. 1 at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif., and the October release of a remastered DVD version of "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown."

Rock the Vote uses tie-ins with music and pop culture to get young voters involved in the political process. They can also register to vote through the "Peanuts" Rocks The Vote site.

www.peanutsrocksthevote.com

A movie download site devoted to international and art-house films launched this week: iArthouse offers a library of 800 titles, and is expected to expand that to several thousand, including many that haven't been available for sale or rental before.

Users can stream the films, download them or burn them to DVD. People who want to buy a DVD can also do that through the site.

A to-go option lets users watch the movies in podcast form on iPods, Microsoft Zune and portable media players.

The downloads are Windows and Mac compatible

iArthouse, a division of movie download company EZTake, offers movies from all over the world in genres including drama, comedy, adventure, film noir, sci-fi, martial arts, animation and more. The film library can also be browsed by country.

Prices range from $1.99 to $19.99, with a few running higher. There are also several available as free downloads. There's no subscription fee to join.

http://www.iArthouse.com

PodCamp Pittsburgh 3, the annual social media "unconference," is set for Oct. 18 and 19, 2008 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

The two-day event for bloggers, podcasters, online video producers and other social media creators gives them a chance to share ideas and learn more about the burgeoning new media universe from the people who are emerging as leaders in the field.

PodCamps, which have been held in cities around the world since 2006, is open to both social media veteran and novices. Registration is free through the PodCamp web site.

www.podcamppittsburgh.com

The legacy of Randy Pausch grows: The audiobook version of "The Last Lecture" by the late Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Pausch and co-author Jeffrey Zaslow is the top iTunes audiobook download.

Pausch, whose Sept. 18 "last lecture" has inspired a global audience, died on July 25.