Living in Digital Times Honors Emerging Tech Gadgets and the Next Generation of Tech Geniuses with Last Gadget Standing & Young Innovators to Watch Awards

David Pogue, tech guru and founder of Yahoo! Tech, returned for his third year as emcee and kicked off the event with a witty CES trends poem. Creative and thrilling presentations, from an AR Jedi battle to some friendly game ball competition, kept the live audience entertained from start to finish, along with prizes thanks to Lenovo's sponsorship and commitment to innovation.

"It's thrilling to encounter these points of light in dark times – these ingenious inventors and their machines, which are ultimately designed to make life better," said Pogue.

"This year's competition continues to stretch the boundaries of technology and reveal which products truly shine in the spotlight," said Robin Raskin, founder and president of Living in Digital Times. "The level of creativity and wit in these presentations never ceases to amaze me. I am beyond impressed with the level of innovation that Last Gadget Standing brought out in this year's applicants."

Last Gadget Standing 2018 Top 10 Gadgets

• The Dash Pro
• GoSilent
• KitSound Voice One Smart Speaker
• Lenovo Star Wars: Jedi Challenges
• Modius
• OrCam MyEye 2.0
• Play Impossible Gameball
• Raven
• Root
• Vestaboard

Following Last Gadget Standing, five exceptional students—all under the age of 20—were named the 2018 Young Innovators to Watch for their outstanding inventions. Through the generosity of sponsors like Lenovo, the Young Innovators to Watch program offers scholarship awards to high school and college students for changing the technological landscape through their innovative products and experiences. Presenting this year's winners:

Varun Shenoy, 16, Cupertino, CA, developed Theia, an app that tracks post-operative surgical wounds to promote patient compliance while preventing wound complications through automated deep learning assessment. Patients can upload an image of the wound for a daily assessment, and the app creates comprehensive wound reports that the physician can receive on a regular basis.

Benjamin Liu, 16, Arcadia, CA, developed Fluorospark, an integrated and self-contained lab-on-a-chip device that detects RNA-based infectious diseases. Sample preparation, nucleic acid separation and amplification, and detection no longer require manual pipettes or automated, bulky, and costly instruments. The device reduces acoustic micro-mixing time from 6 hours to 7 seconds.

Karishma Muthukumar, 17, Cerritos, CA, developed OutLoud, a communication board that allows victims with Locked-In Syndrome to choose emojis through eye tracking mechanisms and artificial intelligence. With numerous emojis to convey language and emotions, patients utilize Brain-Computer Interface to improve patient-giver interactions and reduce medical error.

Emily Kiehl, 17, and Radu Vasilescu, 16, Loveland, OH, developed Project Purple, a VR system that helps children with Ambylopia strengthen their weak eye. Like patching in ophthalmology, the VR headset dims brightness and blocks the strong eye through games that focus on perspective and optical depth perception, triggering the simultaneous use of both eyes.

"These five students stood out from many of this year's applicants for aiding their communities with ingenious innovations," said Robin Raskin, founder and president of Living in Digital Times. "We hope scholarships and recognitions like this will empower young minds to not only embrace their love for technology but also use it in a way that improves their world."

Scholarship winners received $1,000 in scholarship money, a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a cool tech swag bag, international recognition, and the opportunity to meet technology industry professionals, journalists and influencers at a highly publicized awards ceremony.

Follow Last Gadget Standing and Young Innovators to Watch on Twitter @GadgetLast and @YIScholarship, and use the hashtags #LastGadget and #YoungInnovators.

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. For more information, visit www.LivinginDigitalTimes.com and keep up with our latest news on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.

About CES
CES® is the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. It has served as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies for 50 years-the global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace. As the largest hands-on event of its kind, CES features all aspects of the industry. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, it attracts the world's business leaders and pioneering thinkers. Check out CES video highlights. Follow CES online at CES.tech and on social. 

Media Contact:
Kristen Joerger
LKPR, Inc. for Living in Digital Times
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SOURCE Living in Digital Times

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