What do you mean, AppleInsider is still alive? But it's been missing since October 23rd! That's like a couple of decades in web years. The search party was called off weeks ago, the insurance companies proclaimed the site officially dead, the rest of the Mac rumors community attended the funeral, and Mrs. AppleInsider has since moved on and remarried. Oh, what a mess this is going to be.

Still, there's no denying it; we're smack-dab in the middle of one of those "dead guy returns" plot twists, and we, for one, are thrilled-- as are, we imagine, several AtAT viewers. Many of you had written in asking why we hadn't publicly addressed the somewhat suspicious-looking manner in which AppleInsider's formerly semi-regular updates had ceased completely. Longtime viewers know exactly why; because the last time we did something like that, the irony-challenged subset of our audience caused an embarrassing scene by pestering the site's proprietors with a torrential flood of questions. This time we figured we'd just let AppleInsider rest in peace, and see what happened.

What happened, of course, is that the site stumbled back into town last night as if nothing had happened, bearing gossip about the long-rumored Apple subnotebook. Sure, the update is sort of light on new inside info-- don't expect product code names, specs, projected prices, or stolen prototype photos-- but there are some genuine nuggets of crunchewy goodness for those with patience. One is that, despite the constant demands from the road warrior contingent ever since the PowerBook 2400 got the axe, a replacement for the four-pound powerhouse is "at least another eight months" away, so if you're the rumor-heeding type, don't go delaying your PowerBook purchase in hopes that a subnotebook is just around the corner. On the other hand, the product sounds like it might be worth the wait; AppleInsider also quotes "an Apple employee" on the prospect of the company returning to the subnotebook market, who said "you'll be very happy with what we have planned down the road." Do with that intriguing comment what you will.

Whatever transpires when Apple finally decides to fill in the mysterious sixth square of its product grid, we can say this: it's nice to have AppleInsider back in the game. Here's hoping the site can readjust to life among the living. Now, how do we get our money back on that donation to the AppleInsider Memorial Fund?