The Tribune

• FACEBOOK is creating a separate version aimed at helping people do actual work instead of catching up on baby photos and campaign chatter.

On Monday, Facebook launched Workplace, a communications tool for businesses, non-profits and other organisations. The platform is advertisement-free and not connected to users’ existing Facebook accounts. Instead, businesses sign up as an organisation and pay a monthly fee based on the number of users. It’s free for non-profits and educational institutions.

Besides group chats and video calls, Workplace has live video and a news feed, much like the regular Facebook, but the background is grey, not blue. Users can build profiles and see updates from co-workers on their news feed. As with the regular Facebook, the company will display posts that are more relevant based on its own formula. The idea is that because more than 1.7 billion people already know how to use Facebook, Workplace, which works much in the same way, will be easy to learn and use.

• YAHOO has overhauled its main app for smartphones and tablets by emphasising “social” features aimed at people who like to share and chat about news topics online.

The revamped Yahoo app, now called Yahoo Newsroom, will augment its general news feed with more than 200 specialised channels that users can choose to follow on particular topics such as a favourite celebrity, a political issue of interest or a breaking news event. The format encourages users to post comments on news items Yahoo displays for each topic, as well as on links that users find and re-post from other news sites.

The new app will give prominence to stories that attract more comments from users, among other factors.

• THREE scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry last week for developing the world’s smallest machines, 1,000 times thinner than a human hair but with the potential to revolutionise computer and energy systems.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scottish-born Fraser Stoddart and Dutch scientist Bernard “Ben” Feringa share the $930,000 prize for the “design and synthesis of molecular machines,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Machines at the molecular level have taken chemistry to a new dimension and “will most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems,” the academy said.

• FACEBOOK says it’s working to make virtual reality more social as the industry gets more crowded.

With a host of leading tech companies now selling VR products, Facebook’s Oculus division is hoping to distinguish its offerings with more interactive and social experiences. Last week, the company announced a long-awaited shipping date - December 6 - for its Oculus Touch hand controllers, designed to let users make gestures and grasp virtual objects within the simulated worlds projected by Oculus Rift headsets.

But they won’t be cheap. Oculus will sell a pair of controllers, with a sensor device, for $199. Oculus says they’re designed to be more comfortable and intuitive than traditional video game controllers, which can be purchased for less than $50.