*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).
Cloud-based AI-powered writing assistant Grammarly recently raised $200 million in a funding round that values the company at $13 billion. The funding will be used to help Grammarly achieve its goal of becoming more ubiquitous, as the company says it wants to be the go-to writing assistant for wherever people type. Grammarly also says it aims to solve what it calls one of the most critical problems facing people and businesses today -- ineffective communication. Grammarly global head of product Rahul Roy-Chowdhury joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
The Competition and Markets Authority in the UK moved to block Facebook parent company Meta from acquiring the image sharing platform Giphy after saying advertisers and consumers would be adversely impacted. Hatem Dhiab, managing partner at Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment, joined Cheddar to break down the decision and noted that the CMA's order could also halt other big tech firms from making similar purchases in the future. "I think this is going to be true for Facebook, it's going to happen for other big tech companies — Amazon, perhaps Google, so it's interesting that the UK is starting this wave," he said.
Namita Dhallan, Chief Product Officer at Brightcove, joins Cheddar to discuss how artificial intelligence and machine learning are creating room for more personalization in video, and how these technologies are shaping the future of the video tech industry.
NASA indefinitely delayed a spacewalk to repair an ISS antenna, citing concerns about space debris. It was unclear if the warning from the space agency to astronauts aboard the ISS was related to the recent destruction of a non-functioning Russian satellite.
Jack Dorsey has officially stepped down as CEO of Twitter.
In a statement -- he says he is leaving because the company is ready to move on from its founders. Tom Morton, Global Chief Strategy Officer, R/GA joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the implications of the move.
Mike Proulx, VP and research director at Forrester, joined Cheddar to talk about what Jack Dorsey's departure from Twitter as CEO means for the social media platform. He noted that while Dorsey had been the face of the company, "he's been a part-time CEO" since also taking on the leadership position at Square. Stepping down from leading Twitter allows his replacement Parag Agrawal, the former CTO, to be a dedicated leader of the company. However, Proulx noted that Agrawal faces headwinds on policy and political ramifications that will come with the job.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority blocked Facebook parent company Meta's acquisition of the image sharing platform Giphy, stating that the deal would harm UK advertisers and social media users. Meta responded and said that it is considering an appeal.
Jill and Carlo cover the latest developments with the Omicron variant that are spooking markets once again. Twitter's @Jack is leaving, SCOTUS takes up abortion rights and the world has a brand new republic.
