Images courtesy of Ikea

The World Health Organization estimates that 90 percent of people worldwide are impacted by the harmful effects of pollution, which provoke a range of life-threatening diseases. While pollution is thought to cause around eight million deaths a year, more than half of those are the result of indoor pollution, not the smog-filled city streets we’re more commonly wary of. To help with this problem, IKEA is preparing to launch GUNRID, an air-purifying curtain. The low-cost, low-tech option will give New Yorkers (who are always short on space) a simple way of destroying indoor air pollution without using any bulky filtering systems.

Get the scoop

In addition to the emotional baggage an ex-lover leaves behind after a breakup, they typically leave their literal stuff scattered across your apartment. Instead of being forced to remember happier times, a new startup is offering to remove or store anything that reminds you of your ex (h/t apartment therapy). The company “ExBox” will send a box to your apartment, ready to be filled with your former sweetheart’s junk.

How to sign up and more

Image courtesy of NYC Train Sign via Instagram

New York City life got easier when we could see live data on when the next subway train would arrive via signs on platforms, in stations and on our mobile phones. Now a Brooklyn-based startup called NYC Train Sign has created a way to display that data in our homes and businesses (h/t Curbed). In an interesting evolution of the wall clock, the company’s flagship product is an artfully-designed countdown clock that displays real-time MTA data for trains in both directions for any train stop you choose. You can add a customized text slide, logo and real-time weather updates, too.

Cool. Where can I get one?

Graphic via Citymapper

With subway disruptions and delays becoming a part of daily life in New York City, even lifelong New Yorkers sometimes have trouble finding alternative routes when their F train switches to a different line. Thankfully, there’s now an app that aims to make commuting in NYC a little less confusing. Citymapper, a transportation software start-up based in the UK, uses artificial intelligence to recommend new routes in response to MTA alert statuses. As CityLab reported, the app’s “bot” reads the complicated message from the authority and uses the relevant information to offer a clearer route change to avoid the problem.

Find out more

Photo courtesy of Green City Solution’s Instagram

Nearly 90 percent of residents in cities around the world breathe polluted air, which is the single largest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organization. To address this global problem, Green City Solutions created a mobile installation of specific moss culture that has large surface leaf areas and that can remove pollutants from the air. As Curbed NY reported, this new mossy air filter has been installed in Oslo, Paris, Brussels and Hong Kong. According to the team, CityTree has the same effect as up to 275 trees but requires 99 percent less space and just five percent of the cost.

Find out more

A new chess set lets you checkmate with New York City’s skyline. Developed by Skyline Chess, a company founded by two London-based architects, the game pieces capture the city’s early 1900s construction boom and the expansion of skyscraper architecture, along with more contemporary and recognizable structures. As contemporist discovered, the pieces are silhouettes of buildings like One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Flatiron Building, Guggenheim Museum, and traditional brownstones.

Find out more

As a way to escape the stress of urban life, a dome construction company has created a mobile geodesic dome for do-it-yourself nature lovers. The Slovenia-based firm smartdome construction created a dome that users set up and dismantle themselves. The elevated dome can be set up almost anywhere, is built on a set of adjustable steel legs, and is made of prefabricated modules engineered for energy efficiency.

See the DIY smartdomes

Arckit, an architectural model kit manufacturer, has recently added to its family of offerings a series of playful yet professional three-dimensional modeling sets designed to satisfy the needs of building professionals, as well as aspiring designers. Traditional methods of model building include “cut and glue” techniques or 3D drawings, but these kits, called Arckit Cityscape and Arckit Masterplan, provide the same tactile experience with no special skills required.

Learn more

Design, art, and technology are intertwined in this new product co-developed by wallcovering company Flavor Paper and design firm UM Project. Conduct, an interactive installation at Collective Design, which is part of New York’s design festival NYCXDesign, is a wallpaper that doubles as a power source. As Fast Co.Design reported, the installation is composed of five motorized or electrical objects. If a person touches one of the copper dots on the wall, which is covered with paper that’s printed with conductive ink, they complete an electrical circuit and turn on the object.

Find out more