I don't know if "appliance" is how I would describe it but, yeah, something that's as plug-and-play as possible. I guess in the sense that off the shelf, it would be as easy to use as a dishwasher or toaster.

Until I became aware of the fediverse and activitypub, I thought that any such project would be doomed to fail - like most of the smart home market, you're tied to the manufacturer not only for compatible hardware but more crucially to talk with their servers.

Now I'm starting to think it is feasible, but still too many unknowns to bet a business on it.