Another hands-free computer interface announcement, but this one doesn’t need feet either. Eye-tracking systems for GUI control of computers have been tricky to implement up till now, thanks to the levels of false positive generated by the nature of the human gaze. But a team of German researchers have used psychological know-how to refine their Eye-Controlled Interaction (EYCIN) system, by factoring out the minute random movements of the eye and laying out GUI pages in a more user-friendly fashion.

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.

Stop squandering your air-miles on cross-country jaunts or upgrades to first class! A British electrician has blown 2 million of them for a ticket on a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo ticket to orbit – at least, he has if notorious UK tabloid The Sun is to believed, so I’m personally remaining skeptical on the absolute truth of this story. That’s one way of incentivizing brand loyalty, though.

The beleagured space telescope we all know and love has suffered another failure of its main camera, the second such fault this year. The other instruments are working fine, and are shouldering the workload as best they can, but Hubble needs some serious repair work to extend its working life. NASA still won’t commit to doing a maintenance visit, however, which may mean we have to wait for the James Webb telescope to replace it, set to be launched in 2011.