Using a mouse is everyday second nature for huge numbers of people, but not everyone has the luxury of limbs that can grasp one. Three bright sparks at the UK wing of Hewlett Packard have made an attempt to address this imbalance by patenting a foot-controlled user interface device that can replicate all the functions of a mouse and more. While they invisage a variety of hands-free applications for their invention, this could go a long way towards empowering a group of people somewhat left behind by modern computer interface designs.