Computers that look you in the eye and know when you're trying to get their attention, computers that take in spoken German and talk back in English, computers the size of a Walkman, and a computerised office in a Merc - what more could the citizen of the 21st century ask for?

Certainly, that's the perspective of Big Blue, also known as IBM, which brought a fascinating array of products from its global laboratories to Dublin yesterday. Items ranged from the very small - a wearable, pocket-sized computer with a Robocop-style, postage stamp-sized screen that fits over one eye - to the very large - a Mercedes Benz V Class van fitted with a £7,000 (€8,894) desk console with computer, fax, printer and phone.

All the products are close to becoming actual consumer items, except for "Blue Eyes", a computer with a silly-looking plastic face with computerised camera eyes and bushy eyebrows. The "eyes" let the device know when someone is looking directly at it, which causes it to snap to attention. Another computer-mounted camera allows the operator to move the computer's cursor around the screen by eye movements, rather than by mouse. According to IBM, these are experimental devices rather than product prototypes.

But a sleek black plastic "screenphone" - a combination phone, fax and Web device created in tandem with France Telecom - is already being tried out in Toulouse and Paris, while the Mercedes can be had in Ireland in December for a mere £45,000. The simultaneous German/English translator will be introduced later this month at the Frankfurt Bookfair.

Some items can be snapped up right away. Already on sale is a notepad developed with pen maker Cross that allows people to write with a special transmitter pen and transfer text and illustrations directly into their computer. IBM's newly updated voice recognition software ViaVoice, which lets people talk in commands and documents, is manufactured in Dublin for the European market and was introduced this week.