Best of CES for Homes | Hour 1

We've spent a lot of time talking about those and we will continue to, including today a little bit. But something happened a couple of weeks ago that happens every year this time of year, and because our attentions were so focused on the wildfires here in southern California, we just kind of skipped right over it. And that is the big, the one and only, the massive consumer electronics show that took place in Las Vegas. Does it every year,

fills the entire Las Vegas Convention Center. The only show that is as big as CEES is one that I attend also every year regularly, which is the International Builders Show, which is coming up in like three weeks from now and every year I cover both in terms of specifically the things related to your home. So today we're gonna talk about some practical things mostly let's have admit it, mostly some toys for you from the Consumer Electronics Show cool things for smart home tech. As we go through

the show today, I've got a list. You'll enjoy it, I guarantee it. Also, though, I'm actually gonna start with kind of something I didn't quite get to yesterday on yesterday Morning's program or the previous episode. If you're one of our pots cast listeners, I really have been itching to talk to you about Notre Dame Cathedral and just just briefly, just briefly, and what does that have to

do with your home something? It's architectural design anyway, I just really want to talk to you about it, and we will today as well, So don't go anywhere. What are we serving up for you today? Follow us on social media as always, we only do the good kind, the uplifting, informative, inspiring kind Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, you know, all the usual suspects. Home with Dean is the handle for them all. And of course, if your home is

in need of some personal house whisper attention. Then you can book an in home design consult with me and Tina, the one and only Tina. You just go to house Whisperer dot Design. All right, let me introduce our awesome team. Elmer, of course, is on the board. Good morning Elmer, Good morning Dean. How you doing, Bud good. I'm excited for this episode. Yeah, I know, right, we were talking before the show. You know you're an electronics kind of guy. Yeah, so I don't know if I'm going to unveil that

personal robot that you want. There's a lot of there might be some cool stuff. There will be. There will be. Elmer was telling me before the show. He's like, I really just want a robot, but one that doesn't kill me. It's true, it's a concern, all right. Anyway, exactly exactly, Uh, Producer Richie, he's just sending me weird text messages through the studio wall. So anyway, he's standing by ready to take your calls. And yes, we are also taking calls

today as well. Here's the number eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the numeral two ask Dean, and of course Eileen Gonzalez at the news desk. Good morning Eileen, Good morning Dean. How's it going. I'm doing well. I'm doing well. How are things with you? How is your weekend going so far? Just relaxing, doing no work whatsoever.

There's no such thing as that for me on the weekends. Yeah, say, because I Leen, and I work through every weekend weekends, and I work my other job as soon as I get off of this one. So there you go, exactly. So anyway, glad you're here, Bud, Glad you're here. I'm happy to be here. And sitting across the table from me, there she is my better half, my design partner, the co owner and co founder of House Whisper be Whisper Whisperer btw btub uh, there is Tina. Oh, excuse you,

welcome home. I wonder if every week we have to explain why there is an elephant sound with your name. I don't think we do. No, we're just gonna leave it. We hit it every once in a while. For people who are brand new to the show, they'll just have to You just have to hang with us for more than a couple of weeks because it comes up. But there it is all right. Y'all, let's dive into it. When we come back. I want to talk to you about Notre Dame Cathedral, no Tra damn Dame Cathedral, Notre

Dame now Tre Dame. Uh, just a little something that's been on my mind. Yesterday we did we spent some time talking about some architectural and design news here in southern California. Actually only had a chance to kind of do a deep dive into a structure that means a lot to me, Wayfair's Chapel on the Palace Fertes Peninsula that has been subject to the Portuguese been landslide that's happening out there, along with hundreds of homes being subject

to it. We had callers call in about it. Anyway, it was if you missed yesterday's show, definitely catch it because it was a lot of good stuff happening and calls yesterday as well. But I really wanted to talk about Notre Dame as well as part of my you know, design stuff in the news. So we'll do it. We'll do that first and then we'll get into the consumer electronics show for Homes for twenty twenty five.

Here's the number eight three three two. Ask Dean eight three three the New World two. Pep, ask Dean A three three two. There she goes again, ask Dean. I don't know why that makes Tina laugh. Why does it make you laugh? It's his buddy. Every time I married the right person. All right, But first, like I said before the break, I want to talk to you a little left over from yesterday's program, where I was hoping to cover a little bit more, you know, architectural and

design news, some local, some not so local. I really really wanted to talk to you about Notre Dame cathedral. Now I know what you're saying, great Dean. What in the world does a Notre Dame cathedral, which by the way is in Paris not here? What the world does that have to do with anything with my home? And I will tell you this, my friend, an awful lot. Any piece of great architecture, by the way, has lessons to teach you about any other piece of architecture, which,

of course we hope your home will become. Here's one example right in here. Do you know how long it took to build Notre Dame. It's a classic story of many many cathedrals. In fact, this is not the longest time ever spent building a cathedral, by far a European cathedral. But ninety seven years Notre Dame was under construction. They started building it in eleven sixty three. They finished in twelve sixty, ninety seven years later. Here's the thing to

learn about that. I have been fortunate to have traveled quite a bit around the world, seen some pretty incredible things here and abroad. I will tell you never once have I run across a structure that where time was stretched in order to create it, in which it was not excellent, and in fact I could flip that and say, never once have I seen a structure or encountered a structure that was built overnight that is heralded as architecturally excellent as they say, right, Rome wasn't built in a day.

And I, in our fast food culture and our fast home improvement culture, am constantly encouraging you, exhorting you, begging you to take time. I know you want to get it done yesterday. But if you really want your home to shine, if you really want it to be the excellent thing for decades of your life, that it becomes a partner in living your beautiful life, then by all means, please take the time to do it right. So that's

a lesson. And there are other lessons like the volume of a space like a cathedral, and the way that volume has a psychological effect on us, and where we can find volume in height in your home instead of expanding square footage can make a huge difference. It also save you a lot of money. The use of light, drama story cathedrals are nothing if not gigantic stories to be told. So all of that applies. But mostly what I wanted to share with you is something that you

may or may not have known. I think most of us know that about five years ago, a little over five years ago, Notre Dame caught on fire. And you know, we're very familiar with structures catching on fire here in southern California. Now it's all fresh in our minds. The thing with Notre Dame is that it burnt. It's largely a stone structure, but there's a lot of wood, old oak ceiling across the entire cathedral, and that ceiling burnt

completely and completely collapse in. And then the French government took a very very wise approach. They took time to figure out how they were going to restore the cathedral, and they decided to restore it in exactitude with the not present building standards, but the way it was built originally, so that it wouldn't be mismatched and have strange stresses on other parts of the structure, which is wise. They also added fire suppression systems, which is also very very wise.

But here's the thing, the silver lining, as it were, that came out of this. Something happened as a result of that fire that has never, in my knowledge happened in the history of ancient European architecture. Something happened that is different about Notre Dame than any other cathedral or you know, eight hundred plus year old structure on the planet. Do you know what that is? We'll talk about it right on the other side.

after a fire? And the reason is this, here's the reason. It's not just that ground cover is missing from open areas. It is in fact that the soil, because of the heat of the flames, has been glassified. Sand content in the soil has essentially melted and hardened the top layer of soil, and so after a fire, immediately after a fire, and this all breaks down. It all, it will all break down, but the heat has kind of tempered and

hardened the surface of the soil. And then if we get a lot of rain right after the fact, I mean, you know, within weeks, like is what's happening now, And then those soils shed water much faster, and so instead of absorbing that water, they shed it off and the water starts moving on the surface, and then we get ground movement, floods and things like that. So just FYI, the more you know, all right, I'm gonna finish up my thought on Notre Dame Cathedral that I left you

hanging with. Did you know, I mean I said right before the break that something historic has happened there that's never before been seen in the history of medieval European architecture. And it is a byproduct, as it were, a silver lining of this disaster. And it was a disaster. And so in no way am I saying that I'm happy that Notre Dame encountered its devastating fire. But if you have to find a silver lining, this is it. This

is what happened. The roof at Notre Dame Cathedral was lead, and as it burned, it melted and as it collapsed, and in the burning process, the flames also distributed lead dust everywhere. So it wasn't just a matter of all, right, let's clean up the roof debris and start rebuild the roof.

Every nook and cranny of the interior of Notre Dame Cathedral was covered in soot and ash but also dangerous lead dust content, which meant has met I mean, workers for the last five years have been working with hazmat suits as they restore and clean. So they had to figure out a way. And by the way, Notre Dame is built primarily other than the wood of limestone, of a local, locally sourced limestone, and that limestone is pretty bright.

It's pretty bright. It's got a slight gray, sort of gray tan tint to it, but it's a very very bright, lovely limestone. And so they had to figure out how we going to get it clean without destroying it because limestone is not the strongest of stones, so we can't

just you know, pour harsh chemicals all over it. And the last five years have been spent meticulously brushing down and cleaning everything, and then of course repairing what stonework was damaged in a restorative process so that everything goes back the way it was. So it's cleaned and it's safe, and the soot is gone. But guess the soot of the and the ash from the fire is gone. But guess what else is gone? And here is the point

that's so exciting. Eight hundred years of candle and oil lamp soot is gone from the inside of Notre Dame Cathedral. In other words, for the first time in European history to my knowledge, and for the first time absolutely in the history of Notre Dame Cathedral. If you visit it now, you will do something extraordinary. You will see an eight hundred year old cathedral the way it looked when it

was built eight hundred years ago. Not the old, sooty, dirty building that has survived down through time, but no, a fresh clean So people who have been to Notre Dame before and who have walked in again say, oh my god, what is going on here? Why is it so bright? And they're astounded. They're astounded by what has happened to this cathedral because it has been restored by default by the cleaning process, back to its original condition,

not just original structural condition, its original esthetic condition. So if you are so fortunate as to be able to travel abroad and you were thinking about, oh maybe France, maybe Paris will be on my wishless, I'm just telling you you have a treat in store. And if you you are unable to travel abroad, then there are a ton of documentaries and videos and things online that you can source out, and I encourage you go check it out. Go check out the documentaries to talk about the whole process.

Go look at footage of Notre Dame now and it is reopened to the public, and look at it and just sort of wonder at how amazing it is that we have now seen something our generation have seen something that no one else has seen before, which is an eight hundred year old structure looking the way it did on day one. Pretty amazing stuff, Pretty amazing stuff. All right, That's all I wanted to share with you. Don't tell me that isn't interesting, of course it is. All right.

When we come back, let's dive into something very, very different, which is the stuff that I've gleaned from all of the hundreds of thousands of things on display at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Some of the things that are most pertinent to our homes, smart home tech and all the like that's coming.

Right now, let's dive into the best of the Consumer Electronics Show twenty twenty five as it relates to your homes. With all of our attention focused on wildfires. The CES show in Las Vegas that happened a couple weeks ago, came and went without much fanfare from southern California, but it was a banner year for tech, especially when it comes to smart home tech. So what is the first thing you need to know? Reporting on CEES. This shouldn't

surprise you, but it has to be said. AI was the undisputed king of cees this year CES twenty twenty five. Everywhere AI was everywhere like a virus, infecting every bit of hardware, every new concept and methodology. And I'm not trying to be negative about it, That's not my intention. I'm just saying it was viral. I mean viral. Now is when I can confidently tell you is when we are going to begin seeing on regular basis artificial intelligence

seeping into everything. Some of it will be silly and ridiculous, and that's always just been the case, all right, that's not a dis on AI. It's just all smart technology that has ever come out. Some of it is silly and ridiculous, but other parts of it are going to be utterly brilliant and some of it downright practical. Here is Here are a couple of items. The company Tapo. T a Po introduced some home security door locks and cameras that you know, not a new thing again, so

what makes them special? AI? AI has added a whole new flavor to them. I saw a home security entry lock that you know, what have we had in the past keyed yes with your key biometric where you to stick a thumb up there and it reads your thumb and unlocks the door. We've seen I locks you know, based on you know, put your eye up there, you know,

very kind of mission impossible esque, right, Uh. But more commonly it's been the biometric lock, which have been a little bit hit and miss in the beginning, but now we're getting pretty dang reliable. But what do we have now? Now we've got facial recognition AI facial recognition where literally you're just get close enough, stare into the camera for a second and it's like, oh, oh, Dean, it's you.

Of course I'm gonna unlock the door. Uh. And in addition to that, if that isn't your cup of tea, palm repetition recognition, palm reading not not your fortune, but apparently a pattern of not only the lines the prints in your palm, but also a pattern of just under the skin that it is able to detect. So all you do is just hold your palm up to this little pad. You don't have to touch it, it's non contact, but just you know, an inch away, and boom, recognizes

who you are and open the door. Goes so very very interesting, these biometric ways of doing security, the camera side of things, I thought was really creepy. No, no, useful AI on home security cameras. What does that look like? It's this this product from Tapo. These cameras, and the cameras aren't any different than you know, every other home

security camera out there. And then, of course, you know, we've talked about the fact that home security cameras have gotten every year easier and easier and easier to install. You buy, when you plug it in, but bom, give it, give it your Wi Fi work and next thing you know, you're up and running. You can get alerts on your phone. That's how they work these days, super super easy and not very expensive anymore.

That's the kind of stuff we're talking about here is one that I think a lot of parents will find imminently valuable. Put a camera, one of these security cameras on a flex arm above a crib in a nursery. Right, So now we've got a camera watching the little one as they sleep, and you get a message from from that camera that says your child's face might be obstructed by a blanket. You see what I'm saying. That's smart stuff and that has value, I mean real practical value.

So cameras with the AI commentary in which more and more these AI systems are able to watch and discern certain important things about what's going on in your home. Along these lines, I think there was one more camera that I had here. Let me see. Oh Akara the company Akara, and it's spelled aquar. Akara looks like a Quara. Akara has a ports camera, again extending the AI intelligence with what they call package delivery detection and package theft detection.

So in other words, you know, it's not just person at the front door. Tina and I get that alert all the time. We get, oh, person at the front door, and then we say, oh, it must be must be Amazon, must be ups Because we were expecting something. Well, now we don't even have to guess at that, because now the alert comes through with package delivered on the front porch, a package, not just a person, just to detect the

fact that there's a package there. And then about four minutes later it'll say package removed from the front door when it gets stolen. But that's the truth. It has package delivery and package theft detection. So it is going to tell you, oh, you remember that package and I told you about a half an hour ago, got sat on the front porch. Yeah it's gone. Now somebody just

took it and here's the guy. So yeah, these are the kinds of AI intelligence that's being put in technology that we are already very very familiar with and taking it up, taking it definitely, I wouldn't say to the next level, taking it several levels up as far as its ability to communicate accurately and precisely what's going on with your home. Okay, when we come back, you know what,

it's time to take a couple of calls. So we're going to take some calls, and when we come back to CES, I want to talk about the one one television that I thought was of massive interest to a lot of homeowners. TVs are always the thing, right, I mean, there's eight thousand of them at every ces, But this one, for a very specific reason, caught my attention. We'll talk about that when we return to the subject. But right after this next news break, we'll be going to the

phones eight three three two. Ask Dean A three three the numeral two. Ask Dean your home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer on KFI. This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI Am six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.