Created by a non-profit charity based in the United Kingdom, the credit-card-size PC is designed to run the ArchLinux, Debian and Fedora distributions of ARM GNU/Linux, which users can purchase on preloaded SD cards sold separately.

"This really came from an observation that people were coming to [university courses] perhaps with less skills than they used to have," said Raspberry Pi Foundation co-founder Robert Mullins. "The primary goal was to build a low-cost computer that every child could own, where programming it was the natural thing to do with it, and also something that could be built into larger projects."

Due to huge interest in the charity's new $35 PC, the Web sites of global distributor RS Components and the element14 community of Premier Farnell were overwhelmed with preorders on Wednesday -- even though preorders were limited to one per customer.

"With tens of thousands of customers looking to order on the RS Web site since the launch of Raspberry Pi earlier today, this is the greatest level of demand RS has ever received for a product at one time," said Chris Page, the general manager of electronics at RS Components.

A Great Opportunity

RS expects to receive the first batch of boards into warehouses at the end of next week, with the shipping of products on a first-come, first-served preorder basis.

"We clearly understand how excited customers are about this ground-breaking product and we are working closely with Raspberry Pi to satisfy this unprecedented demand," Page said.

Premier Farnell sees the Raspberry Pi as a great opportunity to engage a new generation of engineers and computer experts. "Through our element14 Community we...

The new pages could help boost Facebook's appeal on Wall Street, if it needs a boost, as the company is getting ready for an initial public offering. Facebook is highlighting the ability for businesses to brand a page with their own cover photo, showcase the most important news on the page's timeline, regularly pin a new post to the top of each page, and manage the page's activities and messages from one place.

Dashboard for Administrators

The company said that a variety of well-known companies have already adopted the new pages, including the TODAY Show on NBC, Starbucks, Nike, The New York Times and Microsoft Windows.

To the right of the featured cover photo, other photos or apps, such as an events calendar, can be posted. Administrators will acquire new messaging functionality, which did not exist before, or they can disable that ability. In the old Facebook pages, companies could not message from Facebook.

The dashboard will help administrators keep track of page activity, respond to timeline commenters, see analytics and view likes, notifications and messages.

Timeline shows photos and posts in two columns, backward in time, instead of simply one post after another in one column. Its design is considered more inviting for viewers to peruse the Facebook history of the page's owner.

The Timeline function started appearing for personal profiles last fall, and it has been the subject of discussion as users assess whether they liked having their Facebook history more exposed.

Timeline Pruning

Previously, older posts were buried way down on other screens, but now they're part of a more accessible history. Although originally optional for personal profiles, Timeline is now being made mandatory by the...