New feature: the off switch!

CNET cell phone reviewer Kent German recently posted about his experience after discovering that a favorite resort in northern California now had cell service after long being a dead zone due to its rural location. True, over the air services reach further every year, but this would be less of a concern if we simply re-introduced what used to be a universal feature: the off switch.

While it is very easy to put many of the gadget I own to 'sleep', it is darn near impossible to turn some of them off entirely. Is anyone clear on how to turn and iPhone 3G off, short of letting the battery die? I've also noticed that my satellite TV box does not turn off, instead favouring a sleep mode as well. The only time it turns off is 3am, when it resets to check for updates. I assume this has to do with the fact that it takes a long time to re-aquire the feed when it restarts, but it does illustrate my point. And yes, I have hard-booted a laptop. My home network is based around an Airport Express which has a reset buried in the management software, but again no off.

I recall one commentator saying that machines would not give us any trouble so long as we retained the ability to turn them off. Oops. It seems I already have a household full of gadgets that I can turn off only if I forcibly remove all the power sources. Can everyone' favorite sci-fi scenario be far behind?