Why can’t you use electronic devices during airplane takeoff and landing? We all know they don’t emit deadly pilot killer rays. If an iPhone actually interfered with the plane’s communications then surely we’d all be dead because of the people who forget to turn off their phones. I suspect it’s not a technical challenge, but a human reason that keeps this ban in effect.

Given that the majority of airplane accidents happen during takeoff and landing, passengers need to be vigilant and ready to move. That means anything in your lap needs to be tossed aside. How much does the average paperback cost? Would you really miss that magazine you’re reading? Well, no, of course not.

But if you’re playing a game on your iPhone and just 30 seconds from a save point? Or working on a business-critical document on your $2,000 laptop? You’d surely spend more than zero seconds thinking about how to save your gadget rather than obeying the pilot’s instructions.

Besides, someone else might buy Skymall’s automatic cat feeder before you could!