ifoAppleStore shares some photos of a newly-revamped Apple product display section in an Arkansas Walmart store near the retail chain's headquarters.

Kotaku reports on claims [ Google translation ] from Chinese web portal NetEase regarding Apple's plans for the launch of a smaller "iPad mini" in the third quarter of this year. According to the report, Apple is planning to launch with six million units of the device at a price of either $249 or $299 in order to combat forthcoming Windows 8 products, although smaller Android tablets such as Amazon's Kindle Fire have also been viewed as targets for Apple. NetEase claimed that the device will be released around the third quarter of this year to "counter attack" the upcoming Windows tablets.

Apple has seeded OS X Lion 10.7.4 Build 11E46 to developers this evening. The latest build reportedly has no known issues and focus issues include the App Store, Mail, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, and Time Machine.

MacRumors has learned that Apple has bought out two performances of Cirque du Soleil's traveling show Totem , currently playing in San Jose, California. According to our source, Apple purchased the entire block of 2,500 tickets for each of two shows yesterday and today for employees and their guests, with Apple also picking up the tab for food and drink. Scanning Twitter and other social networks, we see that a number of people associated with Apple did mention being at Cirque du Soleil yesterday, supporting our source's claim of an Apple-sponsored event

AppleInsider reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook paid a visit today to the the headquarters of Valve, the video game firm behind the Steam digital distribution platform and a number of popular PC and Mac games. While the purpose of Cook's visit is unknown, his presence at the company's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington suggests that it may have been of some importance potentially relating to collaboration between the two companies.

As noted by Mac4Ever [ Google translation ], legendary French designer Philippe Starck revealed on a radio show today that he has been working with Apple on a "revolutionary" new product, with the product set to launch within the next eight months. Philippe Starck (Source: Flickr/jikatu ) French newspaper Le Figaro has more on Starck's comments [ Google translation ], noting that he met with Steve Jobs monthly for seven years to talk. Starck also notes that he will be heading to Cupertino to talk with Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, suggesting that he is indeed a relatively close friend of the family.

As reported by Liliputing ( via Electronista ), Intel is envisioning the high-resolution "Retina" displays pushed by Apple in its iOS devices as the future of PCs, with comments at its Intel Developer Forum in Beijing noting that the company is supporting those plans with its chips. Specifically, Intel sees handheld and tablet devices targeting resolutions in the range of 300 pixels per inch (ppi), while notebook computers target roughly 250 ppi and all-in-one desktop computers register around 220 ppi

Last year, patent holding firm Lodsys took on app developers using Apple's In App Purchase system for iOS, suing a number of large and small developers over their implementation of the feature in their apps. Apple stepped forward to assist its developers by claiming that its existing licensing arrangement with Lodsys protected developers, but Lodsys has persisted in its efforts to require licensing by the developers as well. In mid-June, Apple filed a motion to intervene in Lodsys' lawsuits against the developers, seeking to officially represent itself as both a defendant in the case and a plaintiff asserting counterclaims against Lodsys

In the wake of yesterday's announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and a number of book publishers over alleged price fixing, CNET notes that the government may have a hard time winning its case against Apple

Yesterday, Apple disclosed for the first time that it is working to develop a software tool to detect and remove the Flashback malware from infected machines. We also previously profiled Flashback Checker , a simple app designed to allow users to easily see if their Macs are infected but which provides no assistance with disinfection