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Living in Digital Times LLC today announced at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019, the winner of the wildly popular Last Gadget Standing (LGS) live competition. In its 19th year, LGS celebrates ten competitors who presented new and unique consumer gadgets to a standing-room-only crowd that voted for their favorite gadget via the Audience “Applausometer.”
The winner this year is Shure’s new MV88+ Video Kit, a digital stereo condenser microphone that provides content creators with an all-in-one solution for capturing professional-quality on-the-go recordings. The kit also includes a Manfrotto® PIXI tripod, phone clamp, and mount as well as iOS and USB cables for next-level compatibility and connectivity.
The HP® Spectre Folio, a new concept for the laptop computer featuring leather construction and innovative foldable design, won this year’s People’s Choice Award.
The emcee this year was Jennifer Jolly, an Emmy Award-winning tech life columnist, a New York Times columnist and host of the digital lifestyle series TechNow for USA Today.
Competitors presented a range of exciting leading-edge new products that tackle problems we deal with every day, from hearing better, to solving the seemingly never-ending password conundrum with a simple key solution, to a dash-cam video system that immediately sends your mobile phone video of car break-ins and accidents.
“I am happy to be the first-ever female host of Last Gadget Standing and to introduce so many exciting new consumer products that promise to improve our lives in so many ways,” said Ms. Jolly.
“In its 19th year, LGS continues to look to the innovators who consistently wow us year after year with solutions to life’s most vexing challenges,” said Robin Raskin, founder of Living in Digital Times. “Regardless of who won, everyone on stage today was a winner because they beautifully shared their passions by bringing these products to life and impressing everyone in the room here at CES.”
Last Gadget Standing 2019 Top 10 Gadgets
- HP Spectre Folio
- MIXXTAPE
- Vuze XR
- Orii from Origami Labs
- Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit
- YubiKey 5 NFC
- IQ Buds BOOST from Nuheara
- Owl Car Cam
- Shure MV88+ Video Kit
- Rosary Beads from Gadgetek
Following LGS, five exceptional students under the age of 20 from the US and Canada were named the 2019 Young Innovators to Watch (YITW) for their innovative and outstanding inventions. Thanks to the generosity of Lenovo, the Young Innovators to Watch award offers scholarships to students who are moving the technology needle with game-changing products and new ideas.
Backen: Tomorrow’s learning system was built by a student today. Jerry Qu, 17 (Unionville High School, Markham, Ontario, Canada), created Backen using Tensorflow, Microsoft Azure, and various APIs, all connected in Python. The system uses machine learning to automatically tag keywords in research papers, and recommends and suggests relevant articles, the first step towards a universal knowledge bank.
HICCUP: At 17, Lyron Co Ting Keh (Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta, CA) is already hard at work in one of the most prestigious cancer labs, the Alizadeh Lab (Stanford Medicine, Division of Oncology). He works on algorithms to help research in “Cancer of Unknown Primary” (CUP) where he designed and trained a robust and cost-effective machine learning model to carry out non-invasive CUP classifications from cell-free DNA (cfDNA).
HotSpot: HotSpot is a peer-to-peer Wifi network created on the blockchain that allows you to make money from sharing your hotspot. Born out of a Wifi-challenged visit in Berlin, 17-year-olds Vishanth Thangavelautham and Talha Atta (R.H. King Academy, Toronto, Canada) didn’t want to waste $20 on an Uber and took the train, but they didn’t have Wifi and didn’t know how to navigate. They only needed Wifi for 10 minutes so why buy a different SIM card? Should they not be able to just pay to use someone else’s network for five or ten minutes?
Lumen: Kumaran Akilan, 18, and Archishman Sravankumar, 17 (Cupertino High School, Cupertino, CA), have devised a promising algorithm for detecting early onset of Alzheimer’s Disease via retinal scan. They’ve been working with data sets supplied from Belfast University, creating a completely autonomous algorithm. Along with a team of mentors in the fields of ophthalmology and computer science, they hope to fulfill the promise of a low-cost, non-invasive early detection test.
Quantum Vector: Tanisha Bassan, 17 (St. Robert Catholic High School, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada), is leveraging quantum machine learning using IBM’s Qiskit software to run a quantum support vector machine kernel algorithm. Support vector machines, she says, help computers classify different types of objects (cats & dogs) and can project complex data structures into higher dimensions for accurate classification.
“These outstanding students set themselves apart by serving their communities with remarkable innovations,” said Robin Raskin, founder of Living in Digital Times. “The scholarships and recognition they received at CES acknowledge their brilliance and can encourage them to continue their passion for creativity and technology and combine both to affect and improve how we live.”
The YITW winners received $500 scholarships, a trip to CES, dinner with industry leaders, and global recognition.
About Living in Digital Times
Founded by veteran technology journalist Robin Raskin, Living in Digital Times brings together the most knowledgeable leaders and the latest innovations impacting both technology and lifestyle. It helps companies identify and act on emerging trends, create compelling company narratives, and do better business through strong network connections. Living in Digital Times produces technology conferences, exhibits and events at CES and other locations throughout the year by lifestyle verticals. Core brands include Digital Health Summit, Digital Money Forum, FitnessTech, Baby Tech, Kids@Play, Family Tech Summit, FamilyTech TV, Beauty Tech, Wearables and FashionWare runway show, Last Gadget Standing and the KAPi Awards. The company also works with various foundations and manages the Young Innovators to Watch awards recognizing student STEAM innovations.
