Megan Malcolm of Lake Zurich, Ill. -- inspired by her own tedium in front of the computer -- has upgraded the mouse to include a time alert.

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The mouse notifies users when they've spent an inordinately long time at the computer.

"My eyes are hurting after I sit before the computer too long," Malcolm said.

Malcolm, 11, has been named a finalist for the Staples Inc. annual inventers contest, the Chicago Sun-Times said.

The fifth-grader has a shot at a $25,000 grand prize for the invention. Staples will select finalists in March and send them to New York for the Invention Quest finals in April.

The young inventor told the Sun-Times that if she wins any money in the contest, or earns income from sales of her invention, she will use it to pay for college.