PollDaddy is a create-your-own website poll service, and we thought we’d take it for a test drive for you.

The core service is free. You can create polls, publish them on your website, and have unlimited responses to them.

If you want to pay $20/month, you can upgrade to a premium package that allows for even more scalability and customization… as well as access to statistics about your poll and the people who took it. (We’re testing out the free version, because we’re cheap and we spent all our money on golf balls).

To give this thing a trial, we decided to ask our audience to help us name our robot.

We recently added a robot to our payroll. He takes care of a lot of the more mundane tasks such as taking out the garbage, cleaning the office, & fixing paper jams in the printer. Oh, he also answers tech questions from our readers in a new online Q&A column over at iSurfSumner.com (Dear Abby for Technology). Right now we’re calling him Arnie the AnswerBot, because we’re not very creative and didn’t want to waste precious time on the robot-naming task.

But we wonder if there isn’t a better name out there for him. Here… before you make up your mind… he looks like this:

Okay, so what does that guy look like to you? A Mike? A Simon? Maybe a Winchester?

Killing two birds with one stone, here is our PollDaddy poll where you can vote to help us name our new robot. Feel free to suggest a name yourself if you don’t like our choices, and vote as often as you like. Take the poll now:

As you can see, the poll is quite slick. It was easy to build and only took about 3 minutes. If you have anything worth letting your readers vote on… head on over to PollDaddy and sign up. Oh, and check back here on our blog to see what kind of name the little robot guy ends up with.

This is a blog. This website you’re reading right now. It’s our Keystone Blog. We also have a standard business website here.

But this is our blog. It’s a bit more informal, and we get to have a little fun with it while still delivering to our clients something interesting in the world of technology.

And judging by our blog statistics, many of you enjoy reading it. Thanks a ton, by the way!

A lot of our clients have been asking about blogs lately. Do they need one? Should they get one? Is it easy to use? Can it enhance a business? Is it cost-effective?

All five answers are “Yes!”

For any of our local clients (Middle Tennessee), we’re actually introducing a new Keystone University class this coming Friday, May 9th, 2008… on Blogging & Your Business. We’ll cover what blogging is, how it can apply to your business, how you can market your blog, and much more.

Cost for this class is only $25 (or $30 for the Blogging class and the Search Engine class we’re also having that day… both combined). The Search Engine class is at 10:30 and the Blogging class is at 12:30, with lunch in between (buy either class by itself, and you get a free lunch!), and the venue is the fabulous Lighthouse Events Center in Hendersonville.

All Keystone University participants also receive a free KU T-Shirt!

For more information or to sign up, please see our class schedule here (click “Purchase Now” next to the class you’d like to attend) or call our office at 615-826-3500. Whether you’re clueless as to what this blogging thing is all about or you’re in the know and thinking of starting your own blog… this class is for you. We’d love to see you there.

For another resource on whether or not you should start a blog, we highly recommend this great guide from ProBlogger.

Guildcraft Inc. is a Vacation Bible School craft supplier based in Buffalo, NY. You can see their main website here.

They’ve recently decided to start maintaining a blog about crafts and Vacation Bible School activities–an idea we thought was fantastic. We were thrilled to be asked to help design their blog to compliment their corporate website, and the project was really very smooth. You can visit their blog here.

From their new blog:

This blog is managed by Guildcraft Arts & Crafts and is dedicated to the special events of children’s ministry such as Vacation Bible School, fall festivals, Easter celebrations, Advent, and more. Our goal is to give you fresh ideas and planning tips. We’ll also strive to share the lastest curriculum and craft news.

The people of Guildcraft have long been great to work with, and that includes this most recent project. We hope you’ll check out their new blog and share it with anyone you know who enjoys the world of VBS and children’s crafts.

Not to be outdone by the TSA (Transportation Safety Administration), the U.S. Department of Transportation (the DOT) has now started a blog. 

Is this how we know when something is officially passe?  When our government entities jump on the bandwagon, maybe it’s a sign that blogging is no longer cool. 

I mean, what’s next… a MySpace page for Fed Chair Ben Bernanke?  “Just upt intrst rate 4 fun. LOL!”

Anyway, back to the point… The DOT now has a blog, which you can see here.  Wonderful. 

The U.S. Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, has decided the DOT needs to step into the technology age.  From her first-ever blog post:

“After all, if I’m going to insist on 21st Century solutions for our transportation system, I better communicate in a 21st century way!”

Right on, Mary!!  Blogs are the one thing that can instantly make you modern and hip.  I mean, governemnt agencies starting blogs is a bit like my mom getting a Facebook page. 

I think it’s important to know that some elements of this blog will be censored.  From the article:

“Comments are reviewed to make sure they’re free of personal attacks, slurs or inappropriate language. If a topic attracts hundreds of comments, an agency spokesman said a representative sample of them may be posted instead.”

So, if you use hate speak or attack anyone personally, or use slurs, or swear…. your comment may be deleted.  But if you ask me, “inappropriate language” is a pretty vague thing to pinpoint.  So, don’t be surprised if readers of that blog start complaining that they have a criticism comment that’s been censored. 

Also, it appears they may censor comments if they simply get too many of them, which is weird.  They’re going to post a “sampling” of them instead–yeah right… a “sampling” means “the nicest and most complimentary comments only.” 

See, the whole point of a blog is that it builds discussion… builds community… encourages dialogue.  But censoring comments simply because you already got a hundred others seems strange and counter-productive.  “Oh, there’s just too much discussion going on here… we’re putting a stop to that.”  Bizarre. 

According to Wikipedia’s page on the DOT, their mission is:

“to serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.”

They may need to ammend that mission statement now to include some mention of their new 21st century tactics.  Maybe just a “… by blogging” at the end of the mission statement.  That should cover it. 

Or maybe not.  Seems that the DOT is also going to be starting their own YouTube channel.  Wow.  Talk about riveting!  DOT officials talking about transportation issues?  Sign me up now!  Where do I subscirbe? 

Right now I seriously can’t think of anything more boring than DOT’s YouTube channel.  Perhaps if the Department of Housing & Urban Devleopment started Twittering… maybe then that would be more boring. 

So do we give the DOT props for at least trying to be relevant and hip?  I guess we have to.  At least they’re trying.  I mean, what technological advances has the Department of Agriculture embraced?  Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

Anyway, you can view the DOT’s official site here, which is badly in need of a makeover.  Or go straight to their awesome new blog here–which appears to have been specifically designed to look like a blog from 1999–stealthy.  Looks like one of their first orders of business was to let Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley write a post, which is WAY less boring than you might think.  Or not.

Am I being to hard on them?  Probably.  Is mocking them too easy a thing to do for me to resist it?  Almost certainly.  I guess I’m generally in favor of government agencies embracing cutting edge technology and communication tools, but it feels so forced, and more than a little behind-the-trend. 

So blogging is a big deal.  Everyone’s doing it, even us (you’re reading our blog right now).  If you don’t have a blog, you’re behind the trend, right? 

So it should make perfect sense that the Transportation Security Administration launched a blog yesterday.  The TSA, if you didn’t know, is the organization that attempts to ensure that you don’t board an aircraft with a lighter or a big bottle of shampoo or any other deadly weapon. 

Okay, they’re looking for guns and bombs and knives too.  And by all accounts they do an excellent job.  Wait…. no…. maybe that’s not right.  Sometimes they let fake bombs through.  But hey….with millions of air travelers a day, they can’t be expected to catch everything, can they?  What’s the harm in a fake bomb getting through the security checkpoint anyway?  I mean….it’s a fake bomb… not a real one. 

Oh, wait.  But if a fake one can get through, then probably a real one could.  That would be bad.  Hmmm. 

Maybe the TSA annoys you by patting you down every time you go through screening.  Maybe they annoy you by unwrapping your Christmas presents you packed in your suitcase during the holidays.  Maybe they annoy you by not stopping fake bombs.  Regardless, if you want to give them some feedback, The TSA is blogging now, and you can now leave them a comment.  They promise they’ll be reading them and reacting to them:

“We will incorporate what we learn in this forum in our checkpoint process evolution,” Hawley wrote. “Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive, but not touch the critical or cranky.”

So they’re also going to censor the comments, deleting the “destructive” ones.  Not sure what qualifies as a destructive comment, but I’m guessing it would be vulgarity or threats.  Apparently, the critical and cranky comments are allowed.  But when I went to the blog, which you can find here, I saw 162 comments on the main post, and I had to scroll pretty far through them to even find some negative feedback. 

I find that hard to believe.  I think people are generally quite negative.  I also think people are generally not satisfied with the TSA, whether or not it’s fair.  I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I think there should be more negative comments on the blog than we’re currently seeing.  But maybe the word hasn’t gotten out yet.  Right now, many of the comments seem to be coming from actual employees of the TSA–screeners–and they seem to be very supportive and encouraging. 

Not everyone feels so supportive:

“This will just make it easier for them to receive complaints for them to ignore in the name of national security,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.

I say:  at least they’re trying something.  At least they’re trying to improve their feedback system and trying to reach out to consumers.  At least the TSA is blogging.  I think more government agencies need to blog, like the CIA and the FCC and the White House staff.  Everything can be improved with the help of a blog–imagine the comments people would leave on that blog!

Anyway, if you want to let the TSA know what you think of the job they’re doing, head on over to their brand spanking new blog and leave them a comment.  I can’t promise it will do any good, but it can’t hurt. 

Okay, so our Keystone University doesn’t actually offer a Bachelor’s Degree in anything.  But if it did, it would be in the areas of Fun and Eating.  We have a tenured, experienced staff of instructors who basically majored in those areas themselves. 

What is Keystone University?  Well, I sure am glad you asked, because the whole point of writing this post was to tell you about it. 

Keystone University is a free, hour-long class, taught by Keystone Business Solutions professionals.  Each session covers a different topic in the area of technology like “Everything You Need To Know About Search Engines” or “Why Your Company Needs A Blog.” 

We’ll feed you lunch, teach you something useful in a fun way, and we’ll even throw in a free “Keystone University” T-shirt!  Now how can you turn that down? 

If you’d like to learn more about our upcoming classes, or how you can sign up to be a part of one, stroll on over to our official site.  Classes are limited in size due to the fact that only so many people will fit in our conference room, but we’ll gladly reschedule extra classes when the demand is high.  We want to make sure we’re providing the kind of technology advice our clients find useful, so we hope you’ll check it out.  Maybe you have an area of interest we’re not currently covering, and if so… we’d love to hear your suggestions too. 

Hey, no textbooks to buy, no papers, no final exams.  It’s all the good stuff you remember from college, minus the tuition! 

We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people to find us, so we’ve joined Technorati.  Hooray for us!Technorati Profile

Grandmother of “umpteen grandkids” Olive Riley is being called the World’s Oldest Blogger.  At 107, I’m inclined to accept this claim as truth. 

Born in Australia in 1899 (while it was still a British colony), Olive apparently has endless quantities of quaint and interesting stories, having lived through two world wars as well as the Great Depression.

Olive doesn’t know much about computers–a couple of younger friends transcribe her stories for the digital world, and she calls her blog a “blob”–but her fans number in the thousands.  She says she gets quite a kick out of the comments and responses people leave for her, and that she has made several new friends through the blogging experience.

Says Olive:

“It’s a bit of fun, although I do get a bit tired sometimes.”

You can watch a YouTube video of Olive right here.

Or you can go directly to her blog, The Life of Riley, and read her stories by clicking here.

The term is done to death, and I’m sick of hearing it, but by golly, it ain’t going away folks. There is a great way for you to tell your story…or whatever you want to do…by blogging. And yes, we can help you get your blog online. You should be blogging.