Lifestyle briefs

Nov 24, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Lonely Planet releases top destination list for 2012

Berlin (dpa) - Travel guide Lonely Planet has published next year's list of top city destinations in its new 'Best in Travel 2012' guide. The number one choice represents a surprisingly conservative choice by the Lonely Planet editors. In 2011 they recommended New York while for 2012 it's London which hosts the Olympics next year. But the remaining top city destinations are less conventional: Muscat in Oman, Bangalore, Cadiz in Spain, Stockholm, Guimaraes in Portugal, Santiago de Chile, Hong Kong, Orlando in Florida and Darwin in Australia. Among the top countries to visit the number one spot goes to Uganda followed by Burma, Ukraine, Jordan, Denmark, Bhutan, Cuba, New Caledonia, Taiwan and Switzerland.

German firm launches cocktail vending machine

Bremen, Germany (dpa) - Coffee, soup and pot noodle snacks are a few of the items that are sold by vending machine. But cocktail fans can now look forward to the same convenience thanks to a new invention from northern Germany. Two industrial engineers from the University of Bremen have developed a cocktail vending automat, Cocktailfabrik, that can mix nine different drinks. Customers order a cocktail by holding a special chip card in front of a light reading device on the front of the vending machine which then creates the drink from its store of spirits and syrups. The machine is available to lease for parties and other events.