Mentioned now per the Drudge Report
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp&_r=0
Hello Morgan. The article you just referenced is old info. It states that the crew made no reference to the ACARS during their transmission to the ground before they disabled the ATC (air traffic control) transponders and stopped talking on the comm system. The ATC transponders and the voice com systems are completely separate system from the ACARS, AHM, and Iridium transponder.