Abstract: Ethernet Y-cables are provided that include first, second and third Ethernet cable segments, each of which has a first end and a second end and at least eight insulated conductors. These cables further include a housing that receives the respective first ends of the first, second and third Ethernet cable segments and a switching mechanism that is disposed at least partly in the housing. The switching mechanism is configured to selectively connect the at least eight conductors of the first Ethernet cable segment to respective ones of either the at least eight conductors of the second Ethernet cable segment or the at least eight conductors of the third Ethernet cable segment. Related Ethernet Y-switches and methods of using the Ethernet Y-cables and Y-switches are also provided.

Abstract: A system includes a first mobile drive unit and a second mobile drive unit. The system also includes a first inventory holder, a second inventory holder, and a third inventory holder. An inventory station includes a first location and a second location and the inventory station operable to receive a first inventory item from the first inventory holder at the first location. The first inventory holder transported by the first mobile drive unit. The inventory station also operable to receive a second inventory item from the second inventory holder at the first location. The second inventory holder transported by the second mobile drive unit. The inventory station also operable to receive a third inventory item from the third inventory holder at the second location. The third inventory holder is fixed at the second location while the inventory station receives the first and second inventory item.

Abstract: Examples of when to perform a flash update to reset pixels of a display device are described. In some implementations, a counter may be modified in response to determining that one or more pixels of the display device have changed. An ambient temperature of the display device may be determined. A flash update of the display device may be performed based on the counter, the ambient temperature, or both.

Abstract: An item categorization service is described that automatically categorizes items of interest to a user. The user may possess an item that they wish to offer for sale using a network-based service. The user may submit item information to the item categorization service to categorize the item of interest. Upon receipt, the categorization service may assess the relevance of the item information to hierarchically organized categories maintained by the network-based service. Categories having the highest relevance may be identified as first category candidates. The deepest common ancestor of the first category candidates may be identified the first category. One or more categories, representing sub-categories of the first category, may be identified and subjected to relevance assessment. Those sub-categories having the highest relevance may be identified as second category candidates. The deepest common ancestor of the second category candidates may be identified as a second category for the item of interest.

Abstract: Applications executing on mobile client devices may access remote resources via network connections. Operational capabilities and financial costs of these connections may differ. Developers, network administrators, and other parties may wish to moderate usage of various available conditions to conform to business rules. Connectivity information including one or more network grants are integrated into an application received from a developer at ingestion by an application management server, which accesses those business rules. The client devices may coordinate with a proxy server to provide additional controls. Networking public interfaces provide the developer with a simplified pathway for development of applications which use network connections, particularly on mobile devices.

Abstract: The relative positions of two or more electronic devices can be determined utilizing ultrasonic beacons. Each device can have a unique signature that can be included in the beacon broadcast by that device. A device having an array of ultrasonic detectors can receive a beacon and correlate the beacon received at each detector. The time of arrival then can be used to determine the relative position of the source of the beacon. The signature in that beacon can also be used to determine the identity of the device that broadcast the beacon, in order to determine the identity of the device, or a user of that device, at the determined relative position. The devices can be configured to transmit signals over the air or through a specific transmission medium, such as propagating surface. Further, a dedicated detector array can be used for determining multiple relative positions.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments that facilitate sending input commands to an application over a network that may have variable latency characteristics. Multiple input commands are obtained from a client over the network. It is determined whether a delay before one of the input commands is necessary to preserve the meaning of the input command. The input command is provided to an application executed in a hosted environment in one or more computing devices after the delay when the delay is determined to be necessary.

Abstract: Service requests may be routed to services in a service framework provided by a plurality of hosts. A first candidate host may receive a service request. The service latency of the first candidate host may be determined. The service latency for one or more candidate host zones may also be determined. The first candidate host may service the service request or route the service request to one or more candidate host zones. In some embodiments, a probabilistic distribution based at least in part on the service latency of the first candidate host and the service latency for each of the one or more candidate host zones is used to determine whether the first candidate host services the service request or routes the service request to the one or more candidate host zones.

Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for using a virtual file system interface to provide media titles from remotely located user-specific media storage. A selected media title and associated metadata is stored in a user-specific media storage area. The selection of a media title is based at least in part on user-specific consumption data. A request for the media title is received from a client. The requested media title and the associated metadata are provided to the client. Consumption data for the requested media title is received from the client.

Abstract: Techniques for optimizing data storage are disclosed herein. In particular, methods and systems for implementing redundancy encoding schemes with data storage systems are described. The redundancy encoding schemes may be scheduled according to system and data characteristics. The schemes may span multiple tiers or layers of a storage system. The schemes may be generated, for example, in accordance with a transaction rate requirement, a data durability requirement or in the context of the age of the stored data. The schemes may be designed to rectify entropy-related effects upon data storage. The schemes may include one or more erasure codes or erasure coding schemes. Additionally, methods and systems for improving and/or accounting for failure correlation of various components of the storage system, including that of storage devices such as hard disk drives, are described.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for client-specified schema extensions in cloud computing environments are disclosed. A system includes a plurality of service managers coordinating respective multitenant network-accessible services, and one or more computer servers. In response to a schema extension request specifying a client account, a client attribute set, and a client data source, the one or more computer servers generate a composite schema customized for the client account comprising (a) attributes of a plurality of resources implementing the functionality of at least one service to which the client account has access and (b) the client attribute set. In response to an account state view request specifying the client account, the one or more computer servers provide a state representation comprising (a) at least one value of a particular client attribute and (b) at least one attribute value of a resource.

Abstract: Techniques are described for managing access of executing programs to non-local block data storage. In some situations, a block data storage service uses multiple server storage systems to reliably store network-accessible block data storage volumes that may be used by programs executing on other physical computing systems. A group of multiple server block data storage systems that store block data volumes may in some situations be co-located at a data center, and programs that use volumes stored there may execute on other physical computing systems at that data center. If a program using a volume becomes unavailable, another program (e.g., another copy of the same program) may in some situations obtain access to and continue to use the same volume, such as in an automatic manner in some such situations.

Abstract: Systems and method for the management of virtual machine instances are provided. A network data transmission analysis system can host virtual machine networks. A component of a hosted virtual machine network is configured in a manner to receive commands directed towards a simulated network device. The component may then execute a process or processes on the hosted virtual machine network which correspond to the received command.

Abstract: An electronic book reader device leverages a secondary device via an ad hoc network connection to enhance user experience as the user is consuming content on the electronic book reader device. In particular, the secondary device may be equipped with a touch screen and notepad functionality, which may be leveraged to receive user input with respect to content being presented on the electronic book reader device. The user input may take any number of forms, including freeform entry of information (e.g., read notes), control commands, highlights, and so forth.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to management of evaluated rule data sets. Specifically, a unreduced evaluated rule data set may contain a number of items to be compared or analyzed according to a number of rules, and may also contain the results of such analysis. An illustrative reduced evaluated data set can include the results of evaluated rules. When utilized in conjunction with an item data set and a rule data set, the information contained within the unreduced evaluated rule data set may be maintained. The reduce memory requirements of the reduced evaluated rule data set may facilitate storage of the reduced evaluated rule data set in faster to access memory, or may facilitate distributed computation of the reduced evaluated rule data set.

Abstract: A method for managing an inventory system includes receiving an operation request that identifies an inventory item and selecting, from a plurality of workstations, a workstation at which to fulfill the operation request. The method also includes moving an inventory holder storing the identified inventory item to the selected workstation and moving a supply holder storing a supply item associated with the received operation request to the selected workstation. The method additionally includes fulfilling the operation request, at least in part, at the workstation.

Abstract: A user can be identified and/or authenticated to an electronic device by analyzing aspects of a motion or gesture made by that user. At least one imaging element of the device can capture image information including the motion or gesture, and can determine time-dependent information about that motion or gesture in two or three dimensions of space. The time-dependent information can be used to identify varying speeds, motions, and other such aspects that are indicative of a particular user. The way in which a gesture or motion is made, in addition to the motion or gesture itself, can be used to authenticate an individual user. While other persons can learn the basic gesture or motion, the way in which each person makes that gesture or motion will generally be at least slightly different, which can be used to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information, protected functionality, or other such content.