I can't turn the _)(@*$#)(* thing off!!!

Engadget has a great column about a growing problem with consumer electronics design: people can't figure out how to turn products on or off. As one of the commentors noted "The idea behind good design is that the larger the manual has to be to explain how to use the device, the worse/unintuitive the design of said device is."

The incredibly poorly designed off function is one of the main reasons I barely use my iPod. I always think I have turned the thing off, only to discover hours or days later that I've actually just paused it, and now the battery is dead. Apple is a big fan of form over function, which annoys the heck out of me.