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Colorado bear locks itself inside of, destroys Subaru

A Colorado woman got a rude awakening this week when she discovered a black bear locked inside her car. According to 9NEWS, on the morning of July 12, Jefferson County sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a bear trapped in a car on Cold Springs Gulch Road. When they arrived on the scene, deputies Tillman and McLaughlin discovered a medium-sized black bear locked inside a white, 2005 Subaru Outback. There was no damage apparent to the car's exterior, but the bear had absolutely destroyed the interior. "He looked like a dog inside the car just jumping back and forth from front to back," said Deputy Tillman. "He just demolished it." The car's owner, Annie Bruecker, told the deputies that she'd left the car parked in her driveway Monday night with the doors unlocked. On Tuesday morning, she woke up to her mother yelling about a bear in her car. "She screamed from downstairs," said Breucker. "She said, 'Annie, there's a bear in your car.' and I thought that she meant that it broke a window, and I was like, 'okay, that's life.' But, no, she actually meant that it was in my car." Deputies Tillman and McLaughlin deliberated for a while, trying to figure out how to extract the agitated bear from the Subaru. Eventually, they settled on manually opening the rear hatch. Deputy McLaughlin carefully opened the hatch while Deputy Tillman stood by with a shotgun ready, just in case. Thankfully, the bear had had enough of civilization and promptly bolted back into the forest. After they released the bear, the deputies warned campers at a nearby campground that the bear might be lurking about and that they should be cautious. "Bears are unpredictable," said Deputy Tillman. "And they're starting to realize how to do a lot of human activity." Recent Video: News Source: 9NEWS Humor Weird Car News Subaru colorado bear outback

Subaru's latest infotainment update is for birdwatchers (and the rest of us)

Subaru definitely knows its audience, as evidenced by its dog-centric commercials and charitable contributions. So we weren't shocked to learn that its latest infotainment upgrade allows drivers to better track bird sightings from behind the wheel, but we are a bit curious. The eBird integration is one of eight new cloud-based apps being added to the Starlink infotainment system for 2017. Subaru drivers can use the infotainment system to display info from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology through eBird, info on sightings and an interactive coach to help get to where the birds are. (There's a cloud-based joke in there somewhere.) Most of the other new apps involve location tracking or proximity to some degree as well, including Yelp (to find food and business reviews), Glympse (which lets you share your location with friends), Best Parking (to find somewhere to put your car), RightTrack (a product from Liberty Mutual to track drivers for insurance discounts), eventseeker (which steers you toward local happenings), and Magellan NAVI (a cloud-based navigation system). There's also a digital version of the car's owner's manual available in the Quick Guide app. All are free to use, with the exception of the Magellan app, which is included free with the 2017 Impreza for three years. That car's infotainment system comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability, so unless you really prefer the Magellan interface, it's probably best to stick with whatever's on your phone. The new Starlink apps are available on 2017 Imprezas as well as 2016 and 2017 BRZ models, and they'll show up on other Subaru models soon. The functionality requires an iOS or Android phone running Subaru's Starlink app and paired with the vehicle to provide the data connection. Put it all together and you can find some birds, get a parking spot nearby, let your friends know where you've gone off to, grab a bite to eat nearby (not poultry, of course), attend a local event, then hop back in the car and figure out how to tune the radio and find your way home, all the while lowering your insurance payment. Isn't the connected world wonderful? Related Video:

If your TV rats you out, what about your car?

Vizio, the TV manufacturer, recently had to pay a $2.2-million fine to the FTC recently because it was discovered that its sets were collecting data about viewers' watching habits and then using the information for its own benefit. Last year, it was revealed the Samsung smart TVs were busy listening to what was being said, even if the conversations in question had absolutely nothing with switching the channel away from the Matt LeBlanc Top Gear. Nowadays, auto manufacturers seem to be tripping over each other pointing out that they offer Apple CarPlay and Google Android Auto. And more recent phenomenon are announcements—from companies including Ford and Hyundai—that they are offering Amazon Alexa capabilities. You talk. It listens. In late January, General Motors said it is releasing a next-generation infotainment software development kit (NGI SDK) to software developers to write apps for GM cars. The NGI SDK includes native Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that allow access to expected things - like oil life and tire pressure and whether lightbulbs are burned out - but unexpected things, as well. Like the presence of passengers in the vehicle. When your TV set is ratting you out, isn't it likely that your car will? In making the announcement of the NGI SDK, GM pointed out that it has the largest connected fleet on the road, some 12-million vehicles. The company also noted: "From 2015 to 2016, GM has seen data usage by customers increase nearly 200 percent. Mobile app use for GM vehicles also hit an all-time high in 2016, with more than 225 million interactions." Is it not plausible that they know more those interactions than simply the number of them? GM's privacy agreement is like most privacy policies, which boils down to: You use it (the device, software, etc.), you potentially give up a portion of your privacy. While on the subject of apps, coincident with this year's CES, Subaru announced that it has added eight cloud-based apps to the STARLINK multimedia system in the 2017 Impreza. Some are familiar, like Yelp. Some are a bit narrow in focus, like eBird, which was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for birdwatchers. And one ought to give a bit of pause: RightTrack. According to Subaru, "RightTrack Test Drive from Liberty Mutual Insurance monitors driving habits and provides customers with tips on driving safer to help lower their insurance rates and improve their safe driving skills." Or said more simply: You drive. It watches.