Air France 447 went down in similar circumstances (at cruise altitude, without any distress call) except AF447 was going through extreme weather in an area known for it. The only reason we knew where AF447 went down was because of the automated messages the plane sent to Air France operations centre when it detected anomalous conditions on the plane.
Air France opted to install the ACARS system on the Airbus 340 primarily for troubleshooting and maintenance, the Boeing 777 has a similar option but it is up to the airline to install the system. Doesn't look like Malaysian opted to do so. I have always questioned why there hasnt been a move to fully automated data exchange between the aircraft and the ground - supplying operating information. I realize that this is an immense amount of data - the transfer part of equation is the problem, you would have to use satellites or transfer an this immense amount of data. At some point in time we will see a move to this.
They will find this aircraft soon enough, then it is a question of time to find the data recorders, this is a puzzling incident though, a lot of signs point to an on board explosion.
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