I am super excited about all of the time I'll have this semester that I don't have to spend working on college apps. I'll be able to skate, hang out with friends, make music, and all sorts of other things. I am also excited about the capstone project. My group and I are designing something that will sanitize and remove earwax from earbuds. I think our biggest obstacle is going to be deciding on which route we take to solve this problem. There are just so many different ways that we could fix the issue that I don't think it's going to be easy choosing one.
The biggest difference between products that are made for profit and products that are made to benefit others is the lifespan of the products. If a product is designed with profit as its main focus, it will most likely be of a much lower quality to keep the manufacturing costs down. This will cause it to have a shortened lifespan requiring consumers to purchase more than one, increasing profit. A great example of this is mobile phones. Oftentimes they are made out of cheap plastic and have batteries which have an intentionally small lifespan. As the battery's performance degrades over time, the customers will eventually upgrade when the new model comes out so that their phone will hold a charge all day once again. Products that are designed to help people are generally built very well and are made to last. A good example of this would be a well. There are many different companies you can purchase a well for a struggling community from. They generally cost around $5000 and are made out of quality materials that are meant to last a very long time. This ensures access to clean water that will last for decades to come.