Am also trying to find out about this. i have a power strip that has four plugs. when i turn it on at the wall, all four plugs activate and any devices plugged to it will also recieve power. so one switch will activate four devices
forgive my question if it was already covered here, but is that all i need? My tv will power on when the strip is powered on, as will the mobo on my system, and the speakers.
is this correct, becuase i am slightly confused by the master/slave thing and the use of the word 'smart' in the power strip... i thought a power strip was just a device to allow more than one device to be plugged to a single wall plug. i feel like i've missed something ! 
Many modern systems cannot power up when power is applied; the ATX specification uses a "soft" power button that instructs the system to power up. Likewise, modern systems need to be shut down gracefully rather than be powered off.
There are two common solutions to this problem: the smart power strip and the relay. Both solutions require taking a momentary contact button and running the wires from it to the power button header on the motherboard. For the Smart Strip, the PC plugs into the "always hot" outlet and the strip detect when it is pulling current and turns on the other outlets, powering up your monitor, marquee light, speakers, etc. When the PC shuts down, it again detects this and shuts everything off. The relay version requires hacking a power strip to add a 12V relay. Mine is wired between the first two pairs of sockets on the power strip, so my first two outlets are always hot and the remaining four switched by the relay. This relay is then wired to a hard drive power connector on the PC. When the PC is powered up, it switches on the relay which powers up the remaining outlets, and when the PC shuts down, everything powers off.
On motherboards that support it, Windows XP will automatically close all applications when the power button is pressed, so there is no need to "exit" my front end (if the front end supports it; not all do); I press the power button, the front end shuts down, the PC shuts down, and then the monitor, marquee and speakers shut down.
For more information, search for "SmartStrip" or "relay"; there are numerous threads on the subject.
--Chris