Dezeen Wire: designer sex toys are enjoying record sales thanks to the success of bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James, according to design-led vibrator brand Jimmyjane. More
Dezeen Wire: over 300 buildings have been shortlisted for awards at this year's World Architecture Festival, which will take place from 3-5 October. More
Foster + Partners has been shortlisted to design the Xiqu Chinese Opera Centre, the first in a series of new arts and cultural venues for the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. More
Dezeen Wire: the Architects' Council of Europe has condemned the proposed exclusion of 90% of architecture firms from the public procurement market.
In their latest report, the council has urged the EU to amend drafted legislation to help small and medium-sized practices bid for and obtain work in the public sector. More
Dezeen Wire: The Guardian reports on a campaign to persuade high-street retailers to respect the intellectual property of independent designers following the case of English pattern designer Rachael Taylor, who last week spoke out after finding a product almost identical to her own on sale at Marks & Spencer (above and below; Taylor's designs are on the right in both photos). More
Dezeen Wire: a $1 billion project to build an experimental city with no inhabitants in the New Mexico desert has been postponed - Daily Mail
Developer Pegasus struggled to find land for the 15-square mile city designed to test new technologies such as self-flushing toilets, intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks.
See also: a city for 100,000 inhabitants in Brazil by architects Broadway Malyan
Dezeen Wire: the organisers of the London Festival of Architecture have announced that the summer fair will now take place every year.
This year's instalment of the formally biennial festival concluded last weekend and featured 16 days of exhibitions, lectures and events that took place in locations across the city. More
Dezeen Wire: Zurich financial services company Credit Suisse has published a report on the benefits that successful design brings to businesses, including a case study on Apple. More
Dezeen Wire: applications to architecture and design courses in the UK have fallen significantly this year, according to figures published by UCAS, the University and Colleges Admission Service.
The number of students applying to study architecture fell by 12%, while applications to design courses dropped by nearly 15%.
The overall number of students applying for a degree in the UK has fallen by 9%. Last year the cap on tuition fees for English students was raised to £9,000 a year.
See the UCAS figures for student applications here.
Dezeen Wire: the shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has criticised London 2012 organisers over the stringent marketing rules that will prevent architects from entering their Olympics projects into awards – The Guardian
"This kind of stricture was never the intention when the rules were designed," said Jowell. "I hope that a reasonable compromise can be found so that these great British architects can get the recognition that they deserve."
Earlier this week, Wilkinson Eyre were presented with a "protest award" at the 2012 New London Awards for their Basketball Arena designed with Sinclair Knight Merz and KSS.
See our story on Wilkinson Eyre's Basketball Arena | See all our stories on the London 2012 Olympics
Dezeen Wire: as the shortage of housing in the UK worsens, British architects including Charles Holland of FAT, Glenn Howells and Sarah Wigglesworth offer their opinions and solutions - The Guardian
"I'd like to see more rent regulation and buildings reused in creative ways," says Holland, while Wigglesworth suggests that "what we need is greater flexibility."
The article follows the news that New York City are seeking designs for “micro-units” to help solve the shortage of of small apartments in Manhattan.
Dezeen Wire: work finally starts this week on architect Denton Corker Marshall's design for a new visitor centre at Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle in England, after years of wrangling and delay, English Heritage has announced (+ slideshow). More
Dezeen Wire: a major exhibition of work by architects Foster + Partners will open in China later this month at the Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute. More
Dezeen Wire: American crowd-funding site Kickstarter will launch in the UK this autumn - The Telegraph
The internet platform has provided a source of investment for over 20,000 projects since it started up in 2009, but until now has only been available to businesses registered in the United States. More
Dezeen Wire: New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched a competition to design "micro-units" to help solve the shortage of of small apartments in Manhattan. More
Dezeen Wire: the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has announced the winners of the 2012 National Design Awards, including Scott Wilson (above), designer of the Luna Tik kit that converts an iPod Nano into a touch-screen watch. More
Dezeen Wire: the British high court has ruled that Samsung's Galaxy Tab range of tablet computers does not unlawfully copy the design of Apple's iPad because it's just "not as cool" - Telegraph
The news comes days after another rival, HTC, defeated Apple in a dispute over the use of four technologies Apple claimed were its own. These included the use of a swipe gesture to unlock the phone, which the judge ruled was an "obvious" development - BBC
Dezeen Wire: design brand strategist Mirko van den Winkel has published a free-to-download essay called Building a design brand, setting out why so few young design brands achieve financial success and offering advice on how to succeed - download the essay. More
Dezeen Wire: design critic Alice Rawsthorn writes about the moral and social implications of redesigning the human body in advance of an exhibition about human enhancement called Superhuman at the Wellcome Collection in London from 19 July - New York Times
Dezeen Wire: Louise Schouwenberg, one of the three Design Academy Eindhoven heads of masters courses who resigned last week, has sent us their official resignation letter to the members of the academy's executive board. More