I can use my mouse while levitating?

[sir whoopsalot]

Yes, you read that correctly.

I was trying to play Minecraft on my laptop and couldn't notice how twitchy as fuck my movement was. I later had to lift my mouse to move some cables and the cursor actually moved, even though my mouse was a good centimeter off my desk. It's not even randomly flailing about, it actually follows my movements, slow or fast, left or right.

So yeah, who can tell me what's going on here?

[<data_panel&]

zombie goasts

[editline]6th January 2011[/editline]

Is it a laser mouse or one of them old ball mice?

[sir whoopsalot]

[QUOTE=<data_panel> /r;27234737]zombie goasts

[editline]6th January 2011[/editline]

Is it a laser mouse or one of them old ball mice?[/QUOTE]

Laser mouse, got it summer last year.

[&lt;data_panel&]

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;27234743]Laser mouse, got it summer last year.[/QUOTE]

Take a tweezer and check for hair or dust inside the lens.

[Shadaez]

Laser and Optical mouses work by reflecting light onto a sensor, or something similar, it's meant to work about a cm up or else it would stop functioning if the surface wasn't ideal - like carpet. It's nothing unusual.

[editline]6th January 2011[/editline]

Oh, I see. There's probably something - a hair - in the sensor, lifting it works because it's not moving the hair around anymore, or because the sensor's reflecting off the surface at a different angle due to it being lifted.