How does the song go? “The weather outside is frightful…” Winter has rolled into Texas this week with some temperature readings that have scared a few, but the Christmas season is in full swing and it’s a great time of year.

Here at Normal Modes we are finally settled in at our new offices on Kirby Drive with everything up and running (including us).  We are looking forward to our next usability study coming up in a week – stay tuned for more details.

Here’s some good reading to keep you busy this holiday season:

• Puzzled about what to get the geek in your life?  Try our 8 Holiday Gift Ideas for UX (and related) Geeks.
• Here’s a cool idea that lets everyone comment on your web designs – right on the screen.
• As we know, the customer is king – here are 5 tips to help you this Christmas.
• Was Sears.com trying to pull a fast one by upselling appliance warranties seamlessly in the website UX, or was their balance of business objectives and user goals too heavily tilted to the former over the latter?  (We can think of a few better methods for accomplishing the same goal without alienating users.  Can you?)
• We all hate to remember them, but they are a necessary evil in our lives, here are some tips to setting easy to remember passwords.