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Wi-Fi Router's 'Pregnant Women' Setting Sparks Vendor Rivalry In China
colinneagle writes: When one Chinese technology vendor, Qihoo, launched a new Wi-Fi router with a safety setting for "pregnant women," a rival vendor took offense to the implication that their routers might be dangerous. Xiamo, which also sells Wi-Fi routers, took to its page on Chinese social media site Weibo to denounce Qihoo's pregnant women mode as a "marketing tactic," and clarify that "Wi-Fi usage is safe."
Zhou Hongyi, chief executive and president of Qihoo, acknowledged in a statement to the South China Morning Post that there is no evidence supporting claims that Wi-Fi routers pose a risk for birth defects. But he said the company is appealing to consumers' beliefs, whether they are supported by science or not.
"We are targeting people who are afraid of radiation," Hongyi said. "We aren't scientists. We haven't done many experiments to prove how much damage the radiation from Wi-Fi can cause. We leave the right of choice to our customers."
Zhou Hongyi, chief executive and president of Qihoo, acknowledged in a statement to the South China Morning Post that there is no evidence supporting claims that Wi-Fi routers pose a risk for birth defects. But he said the company is appealing to consumers' beliefs, whether they are supported by science or not.
"We are targeting people who are afraid of radiation," Hongyi said. "We aren't scientists. We haven't done many experiments to prove how much damage the radiation from Wi-Fi can cause. We leave the right of choice to our customers."
"We aren't scientists. We haven't done many experiments to prove how much damage the radiation from Wi-Fi can cause."
If you haven't done any experiments to prove how much damage WiFi can cause, then how do you know that your APs are safe?
I originally thought the warning meant pregnant women are dangerous.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
...more and higher energy radiation than the wireless LAN antennas. Just FYI.
The description makes it sound like they just cut the Tx power on the router by two thirds when you enable the mode, which means it will just have a much shorter range. Even better: This would only help if the woman stayed near the router, she's going to get a lot more "radiation" from her laptop, since it has a similar radio and of course is much closer to her. Even if the science were sound, this wouldn't work. It's both dumb and pointless.
I read the internet for the articles.
Xiamo should have just put an add that the "Pregnant setting" is for pussies.... o wait
Me make router, make sure baby not look like flounder.
The Qihoo router normally emits dangerous-sounding em radiation, by default. Best to avoid their routers, but if you're stuck with them be sure to enable the safe mode. Other companies' routers always run in safe mode, which is why they don't have that setting.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Hold up to wife's belly one full month! Still no baby!
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Stories like this make me wonder if anyone in Korea refuses to use a desktop or laptop because they have fans in them.
wish they'd make a router with 'epilepsy' mode, where it dims/disables all front lights. I mean short of the electrical tape option of course.
The power is actually increased, not decreased, by the pregnancy mode. This is to penetrate the womb and let the child surf the net to find a new set of parents to adopt them once born. New parents that aren't afraid of technology.
The real question is: is there asbestos in their router?
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, appers app YOU!
I'm not a script, da.
He is still waiting for the Q2 sales figures to assess the effects of 'Pregnant Women' mode.
Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
If someone is really worried about radiation from wifi, they'd be well advised to not have _any_ wifi devices in the home, if not actually living some large distance from anyone else with same devices.
They'd also want to avoid cell phones too..
Actually, such a person would just become a hermit.
Buying holy items within a repressive communist government area? Check
Making the "tiger rock" joke about a country that has at least two variants of tiger? Check
Your ad here. Ask me how!
as a qihoo wireless model 32 router owner I can say this is being completely blown out of proportion. my router has 6 very clearly labeled settings besides 'pregnant woman' mode and the article mentions nothing about them. Qihoo users like myself typically prefer to keep the router in 'surly wombat' mode to ensure best communication with devices that may be situated between an agitated or unruly wombat (as mine typically can be.) When i have company over I might set the router on 'roger whittaker' mode, which enables it to automatically emit up to 44 different songs from mellow folk sensation Roger Wittaker. You can even control time of day with different settings...for example around dinnertime ill set the router to 'defrost-reheat' which increases power levels accordingly and allows me to thaw and cook up to 15 pounds of turkey in my living room. And i challenge anyone to find a better mode than 'depeche' mode, which activates both gloomy QoS and tortured soul packet conditioning.
Good people go to bed earlier.
..and it's activated by turning the power switch to 'Off'.
If it really worries you that much then unplug the damned thing from the wall, along with turning off your cellphone, and any other RF-enabled devices you may have. Toss your microwave oven into the trash. While you're at it line the walls, floors, and ceiling with aluminum foil (don't forget the door!) and ground it to a solid earth ground, forming a Faraday cage. Be sure to have 9 month supply of food and water on hand.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Or maybe "small apartment mode."
If I could, I would configure my WiFi router to be smart about its transmit power:
I would have a "low power" mode on the router so it could be "seen" within a relatively small radius, but it would increase power as needed to stay connected to a device once that device authenticated. Once all authenticated connections went out of range or disconnected, it would drop back to "low power" mode.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
There's no scientific evidence to support that lighting a stove on Saturday for use on Sunday is better for the soul, or that having the light come on in the refrigerator when I open it Monday through Saturday is fine, but distracts me from god on Sunday. There are a lot of people that believe those things, so the manufacturer accommodates them.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.