*By Conor White*
As if digitally organizing the wardrobes of hundreds of thousands of people wasn't enough, Finery is answering the demands of its users by providing added features to its fashion app and website.
"This is so typical of an unbelievable, strong, millennial woman," said the Finery co-founder and CEO Whitney Casey. "She's like, 'Great, I want my wardrobe on my phone. Thanks for doing that. And, can you also give me a whole outfit and how to wear it?'"
The new Finery features, which launched Tuesday, are a response to customers' requests for personalized fashion recommendations, recommendations for outfits based on the weather, and visualizations to give customers style inspiration based on what they already have in their closets.
To do all of this, all Finery needs is one photo of a piece of clothing, Casey said in an interview Tuesday with Cheddar.
"We take that image, and scan it for the most important colors, how many pixels of each color, if there's a print, we can even know down to if it's a silk, or if it's a linen, or it's velvet, that's how advanced computer vision is getting," she said. "Then we take that same knowledge, scan multiple images all through Instagram to try to find a dress that looks like this."
Since the company was founded in 2016, Finery's free service has only been for women, but Casey said it won't be difficult to start helping men, when the time comes.
"Once we nail women, and get all of that styling, and really learn the A.I. on what women are liking and what women are not liking with the product, men, I'm sorry to say it, but you're just going to be so easy to dress," she said.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/finery-founder-talks-app-updates).
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The world of NFTs and cannabis are colliding as luxury cannabis company Peakz gears up to launch a digital dispensary in the metaverse. CEO Jessie Grundy and Tiffany McBride, managing director of social equity ventures at The Parent Company, an investor in Peakz, joined Cheddar to break down exactly how a digital dispensary would work. Grundy also talked about offering low-cost NFT courses in an effort to help Oakland, California, residents not miss out on new investing opportunities, and McBride discussed why the tech-forward vision of Grundy was worth investing in for The Parent Company. "He comes with really fresh ideas that he's vetted, that he's experienced in, and I really believe the thinking along Jessie's lines is the future of cannabis," she said. "He's more than just flower and a story. He comes with concepts that are new that are innovative, and that is easy for us to get behind."
Daniel O'Brien, president and global head of enterprise at HTC America, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to discuss new products and services the virtual reality brand showed off at CES 2022, including a wrist tracker — in lieu of controllers — for more accurate interactions connected to its all-in-one headset, the VIVE Focus 3. O'Brien also described a cloud-based, 5G content delivery system. "We partnered up with Lumen Technologies and from six miles away we delivered high bandwidth VR to a headset directly in the Wynn Hotel during CES," he said. "And people were able to walk around in their virtual experience through a wireless signal."
Samsung unveiled a slew of new electronics and upgraded designs at CES 2022. With a heavy focus on gaming and the future of work, the company showed off its all new Odyssey Ark, which boasts a massive 55 in. curved display designed to give users a more immersive and captivating experience. Sang Kim, SVP, Samsung Electronics joined Cheddar's Michelle Castillo to discuss the company's biggest launches as well as major trends to watch in 2022.
The UK's Information Commissioner's office is scrutinizing Facebook's parent company Meta over child safety practices linked to the Oculus headset, according to a report. The agency is looking to question the tech giant about how it's protecting children from harmful experiences in virtual reality.
