Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A.

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. Low-cost Chinese labor and looser environmental regulations have virtually erased what was once a vibrant American industry. Since the 1990s, one American company after another have become design and marketing shells, with huge labor forces in China.

Now that trend is showing early signs of reversing itself.