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“Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.” Google releases Nexus Q, made entirely in America
Last edited Wed Jun 27, 2012, 06:03 PM - Edit history (6)
Google released the Nexus Q, its first ever consumer electronics product designed AND built by Google. It also did something no one else does nowadays....not only was it designed in America, but built entirely in the USA!
Introducing the Nexus Q(Manufacturing+features)
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Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Etched into the base of Google’s wireless Nexus Q home media player, introduced on Wednesday, is its most intriguing feature.
On the underside of the Magic-8-ball-shaped device reads a simple laser-etched inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.”
It has become accepted wisdom that consumer electronics products can no longer be made in the United States. During the last decade, low-cost China labor and looser environmental regulations have virtually erased what was once a vibrant American industry. Since the 1990s, one American company after another, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple, have become design and marketing shells, with huge work forces deployed at contract manufacturers in Shenzhen and elsewhere in China.
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Google’s Q links a TV or home sound system to the Internet cloud in order to play video and audio content downloaded from the Internet. The engineers who led the effort to build the device, which is based on the same microprocessor that is found in Android smartphones, and which contains seven printed circuit boards, said they had been able to almost completely source components from manufacturers in the United States.
Google was able to find a company to make the metal base in the Midwest and another supplier for the molded plastic components like the case in Southern California. Semiconductor chips are more of a challenge. In some cases, the chips are made in the United States, but then shipped to Asia to be packaged with other electronic components.
Google did not take the easy route and encase the Q in a black box. The dome of the ball-shaped case is the volume control — you twist it — a feature that required painstaking engineering and a prolonged hunt for just the right bearing, said Matt Hershenson, an engineer, who is a member of an a small team of consumer product designers who have worked together at companies such as Apple, General Magic, Phillips N.V., Web-TV and now Google.
read the entire article here
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/technology/google-and-others-give-manufacturing-in-the-us-a-try.html?pagewanted=all
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Etched into the base of Google’s wireless Nexus Q home media player, introduced on Wednesday, is its most intriguing feature.
On the underside of the Magic-8-ball-shaped device reads a simple laser-etched inscription: “Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.”
It has become accepted wisdom that consumer electronics products can no longer be made in the United States. During the last decade, low-cost China labor and looser environmental regulations have virtually erased what was once a vibrant American industry. Since the 1990s, one American company after another, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple, have become design and marketing shells, with huge work forces deployed at contract manufacturers in Shenzhen and elsewhere in China.
..
..
Google’s Q links a TV or home sound system to the Internet cloud in order to play video and audio content downloaded from the Internet. The engineers who led the effort to build the device, which is based on the same microprocessor that is found in Android smartphones, and which contains seven printed circuit boards, said they had been able to almost completely source components from manufacturers in the United States.
Google was able to find a company to make the metal base in the Midwest and another supplier for the molded plastic components like the case in Southern California. Semiconductor chips are more of a challenge. In some cases, the chips are made in the United States, but then shipped to Asia to be packaged with other electronic components.
Google did not take the easy route and encase the Q in a black box. The dome of the ball-shaped case is the volume control — you twist it — a feature that required painstaking engineering and a prolonged hunt for just the right bearing, said Matt Hershenson, an engineer, who is a member of an a small team of consumer product designers who have worked together at companies such as Apple, General Magic, Phillips N.V., Web-TV and now Google.
read the entire article here
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/technology/google-and-others-give-manufacturing-in-the-us-a-try.html?pagewanted=all
Go Google! This is what companies should be doing.
And suck that Apple, who pours billions into Chinese companies like Foxcon.
Android, now made in America. Apple, made in China.
PS: Btw this is a full featured Android computer, with wifi,bluetooth, NFC and other stuff built in for wireless connectivity + is also an Amplifier .
link
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_q
PS: pics and tech-specs added
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22 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Would consider getting the Google just because it's made here. 
I believe you are thinking of the Google Nexus 7 tablet released a few hours ago in The Google I/O conference.
It has a 7 inch screen.
Quad Core(also has a 5th companion core) Nvidia Tegra 3 Processor (World's first for a 7 inch tablet)
12 Core GPU (Graphics processor)
1280X720P resolution
The Newest Android version 4.1 (Jelly Beans)
Wifi/NFC/BlueTooth etc etc
comes in two versions, 8Gb and 16 Gb
The 8GB is 199, the 16Gb 249 Also has 25$ store credit.
The Nexus 7 leaves the Kindle fire in the dust. In fact it gives the highest end apple Ipad and other Android tablets a run for its money, and for less than half their price....this is probably the best deal for a 7-inch tablet out there.
And the icing on the cake is that this is a nexus device...and will get immediate OTA(over the air updates) directly from Google..not to mention the fact that the OS and the hardware about 3 generations ahead of the Kindle Fire
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I would definitely recommend this over the Kindle fire...or even over many of the sub 450$ tablets out there
PS: link to the site
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_8gb
Thanks for posting.
Nexus Q teardown: made in the USA
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As The New York Times reports, the Nexus Q was designed and manufactured in the US — including some of the device's semiconductors. Google's decision to manufacture the device in the US is significant when compared to its rivals, like Apple, HP, and others, who routinely assemble their products in China and other overseas locations. As Wired reports, Google selected a number of suppliers in the US to craft the Q, including a rifle-maker in Wisconsin that created its die-cast zinc base.
Google has also provided Wired with a number of images showing off the Nexus Q's many internal bits. The $299 "social streaming media player," revealed today at Google I/O, is a cloud-based device that streams music and video, and can also act as a 25-watt amplifier. In the gallery you can see the Q's internals, including a number of uniquely shaped circuit boards and the same chipset as the Galaxy Nexus
source link
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3121118/nexus-q-tear-down-manufactured-us
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As The New York Times reports, the Nexus Q was designed and manufactured in the US — including some of the device's semiconductors. Google's decision to manufacture the device in the US is significant when compared to its rivals, like Apple, HP, and others, who routinely assemble their products in China and other overseas locations. As Wired reports, Google selected a number of suppliers in the US to craft the Q, including a rifle-maker in Wisconsin that created its die-cast zinc base.
Google has also provided Wired with a number of images showing off the Nexus Q's many internal bits. The $299 "social streaming media player," revealed today at Google I/O, is a cloud-based device that streams music and video, and can also act as a 25-watt amplifier. In the gallery you can see the Q's internals, including a number of uniquely shaped circuit boards and the same chipset as the Galaxy Nexus
source link
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/27/3121118/nexus-q-tear-down-manufactured-us
