It looks like Saint Steve may be gearing up for his official return to Apple, and the Silicon Valley news machine is gearing up right alongside him.

Today when Apple announced the one-millionth iPhone 3GS sold, there was a quote from Jobs in the press release. Normally this isn't news at all, but this is the first time in a while that the executive quote was given by Jobs. During the recent health hiatus, Phil Schiller was the one talking about the newest products. Granted, it doesn't take a lot of work to give a quote, but is this an indication that Jobs is ready to return?

When Jobs does return, there will be plenty of speculation on just what went on during his absence. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal claimed that Jobs dealt with a bit more than a hormone deficiency, he actually had to receive a liver transplant.

Knowing how Jobs and Apple handle these sort of things, we may never know exactly how serious Jobs' health concerns were, and what measures had to be taken. When he does come back, however, I think everyone from the consumers to Apple employees to those of us in the press who cover the company will welcome him back.

If you're like most Mac lovers, the thought of using anything from Microsoft makes your skin crawl. You rejoiced when Firefox and Safari allowed you to dump IE, you searched frantically for an alternative to Outlook, and when you finally had to use Office, you did so with a clothespin clamped tightly over your nose.

But from the looks of things, Microsoft's new Bing search engine may be okay.

Some rather clever reporters over at MacWorld asked Bing whether one should purchase a Mac or a PC. The "response" from the engine is overwhelmingly against using Windows. In fact, the first result returned is Apple's own "Get a Mac" page.

That loud crash you heard this morning? That was Steve Ballmer tossing his desk through a wall.

Today was a good day to be a Mac fan. Not only did the mothership show off the new iPhone and MacBook models, but we also got a release date for the iPhone 3.0 update and a sneak peak at the September 'Snow Leopard' update.

But there was one item on the Apple Fan wish list that went unchecked (aside from the fabled Mac tablet.) Steve Jobs was nowhere in sight.

Likely still at home recovering from his lingering post-surgical health problems, Jobs spent the second consecutive keynote address out of the spotlight while Phil Schiller handled things.

But that does not seem to be the case for much longer. New reports say that El Jobso is recovering well and on track to get back to his old role by the end of the month. This confirms a report from Steve Wozniak a few weeks back that his Apple co-founder was in fact doing much better and getting ready to return.

So, given Saint Steve's love for the dramatic, it's a safe bet that his return will come in the form of some sort of public event, or at least in that time frame. My money is on the mid-June release of the iPhone 3G S, with a full return to the Cupertino office a week or two later.