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Is it possible to manufacture a sophisticated wireless-capable device entirely in the United States? That's vaguely the suggestion of Google's jet-black orb, launched last week at the search (and now hardware) giant's I/O event in San Francisco. Now, the Nexus Q is just dying to get undressed, and that's exactly what our iFixit friends have done, revealing each component's country of origin. Perhaps one of the most notable items, the Samsung 16GB moviNAND Flash Memory module, may have been made stateside (Austin, TX), but could also have been produced in Hwaseong, South Korea. Some parts, such as the Ethernet port (China) or optical-out connector (Japan) could only have been imported, as iFixit points out, though others are certainly domestic (a photomicrosensor made in California or Illinois). Ready to dive in yourself to verify those findings? You're not going to want to open this thing up on your own -- there's a bevy of capacitors inside, including one with output in the 400-volt range (a warning label alerts would-be trespassers). You can, however, poke around a bit more at our source link below.
iFixit tears down the Nexus Q: made in the USA, and possibly somewhere else originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 09:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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"Made in America." For some reason, my parents -- and the parents of many of my peers -- take great pride in seeing that phrase. I've seen people buy inferior products just because the label on the back proclaimed that it was thrown together in one of our 50 great states instead of across some imaginary line in "another country." Part of me wonders if people actually check to see if said claims are legitimate. As a business graduate, I fully understand the importance of producing goods within one's borders. There's a delicate balance that needs to be struck between imports and exports, and a huge part of a nation's economic growth hinges on how well that balance is executed.
I suspect the generation before mine remembers a very different America than the one I've grown up in -- one where smokestacks outnumbered high-rise buildings, and one where jobs requiring steel-toe shoes were more lauded than those requiring a fancy degree and "knowing the right guy." Manufacturing was the backbone of America through some really, really trying times, and there's some sense of national pride that comes along with images of swinging hammers and climbing ladders. "We built this country," as they say.
Continue reading Made in America: could your next phone be homegrown?
Made in America: could your next phone be homegrown? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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