The Xappr allows smartphone owners to play various augmented reality and shooting games. It works, so far, with more than 10 AR games that enable players intercept alien spaceships, find and eliminate ghosts, fight evil robots, and hunt a horde of zombies.

The accessory is compatible with iPhones and Android handsets, while a model for Windows smartphones are in the works.

The Xappr will have its public debut in the international toy fair to be held in Nuremberg, Germany beginning February 1. Metal Compass now accept pre-orders from customers in United States, Canada, and Europe, for only $30 (plus shipping and handling), with shipping for the Xappr begins in June.

Sprint begins distributing the ZTE Optik in its retail channels beginning February 5. If you do not prefer having a CDMA-only tablet, you can purchase the Optik obligation-free on the same day for only $349.99. All prices exclude taxes.

Looking for a new mouse to improve your RTS and MMO gaming experience? Genius’ latest creation, the DeathTaker might be what you’re looking for. Featuring an interesting design with 9 buttons and a removable weight system, the DeathTaker is catered to help you select the appropriate spells, units and items at the right time without you having to take your eyes off the screen. In addition to being highly customizable, the DeathTaker lets you adjust the X and Y axis independently (from 100 – 5700 dpi) for your different needs.

It has on-board memory to prevent game block and reprogramming regardless of what computer you use it on, “Scorpion” UI for button assignment and macro management, an RGB system to select up to 16 million backlight colors, and a 1.8m braided cable with a gold-plated USB connection. If you’re keen on picking up one this gaming mouse, it is available now and will set you back $79.90.

iOS charging docks come in all manners of shapes and sizes, some straightforward and practical, while others providing a more novel approach, which is what the Possession Book Charging Dock by A.S. Byatt of 2000 seems to be going for. If we did not reveal that it was a charging dock for your iOS device, on first glance you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought that was a photo of an iPhone cleverly balancing on top of a book.

If that’s what you thought, then perhaps A.S. Byatt managed to achieve the illusion that he was going for. According to the product’s description:

“It looks like a mild-mannered book on a table or a desk, you almost don’t notice that it’s an iPhone charger. No more dropping the cord behind the desk or nightstand! The charging cord is well secured into the book, and it’s designed to be compatible with all iPods and iPhones (iPhone 3G, 3GS & iPhone 4, 4s), it accommodates sync and charge functions via the USB cable, and although the wall connector is not included, wall adapters come standard with all iDevices.”

If the current design above is not to your liking, there are other book designs available (will have to be custom made apparently) as well, so if you’d like to browse their selection or pick one up for yourself, head on over to their Etsy page for more information.

Nikon has half a dozen new Coolpix S-Series digital cameras that intend to deliver advanced functions without coming up short on style and design. The highlight of this group would be the S9300 (although the S9200 does come close in comparison), where both are high-power zoom models which feature 18x optical zoom NIKKOR lenses, and thanks to the backside illumination CMOS image sensor and lens-shift vibration reduction (VR) system that are incorporated within, you can be sure of shooting great looking photos even when there is very little natural light around. The Coolpix S9300 will come with an integrated GPS function in order to make geotagging of your photos far easier, and you can also opt to record movies and stitching them together as a single file later on – right from the camera itself.

As for the S6300, this new model caters for the popular high-power, compact zoom model class, and despite a 10x optical zoom NIKKOR lens, it still has one of the most compact bodies in its class. Capable of shooting 16 megapixels in an image, it also has a lens-shift vibration reduction (VR) function, and does Full HD movie recording capability. The S4200 and S3200 will be slim and stylish models which will have improved zoom function and built-in VR, and apart from that, Nikon has managed to slim down the chassis even more compared to its predecessors, now how about that?