Links for Monday June 16^th, 2014

• The Minimum Wage Worker Strikes Back: Long examination of what it's like to work for minimum wage in this country. If you read this and still don't support raising the minimum, I don't know what to do for you.

• Amid Stratospheric Valuations, Google Unearths a Deal With Skybox: I didn't understand the implications of Google's latest purchase, but it's pretty wild:

  Here's an example of what he's talking about. In 2010, an analyst at UBS discovered that if he bought satellite images of parking lots of Wal-Mart stores, he could predict the company's sales figures before they were revealed in its quarterly report, because cars in lots equal shoppers in stores.

  "We're looking at Foxconn every week," Mr. Berkenstock says, because measuring the density of trucks outside the Taiwanese company's manufacturing facilities tells Skybox when the next iPhone will be released.

  And this:

  "It's competitive intelligence as spy craft. And it's compelling enough that a Skybox employee once told a reporter for Wired that the company might someday simply become an unreasonably profitable hedge fund."

  The article is behind a pay-wall, but Google the article title to get around it. This is definitely worth reading.

• Yosemite 'Hand Off' Feature Limited to Macs with Bluetooth LE: Rats, my 2010 Mac Pro isn't going to make the cut for this cool new feature.

• Omotesando, Tokyo - Grand opening 6.13.2014 (YouTube): This store looks ridiculously amazing. At some point, Apple won't be able to outdo themselves with a new store, right?