Hard to see how this idea will work for them. It really only makes sense for devices that we _want_ to produce heat (toasters, water heaters, space heaters, hair dryers, etc.) Getting a cheap TV that spews out excess heat during the summer months, driving up AC costs, would be silly.
Now for heat producing appliances, how many are used a high percentage of the time? In my household of six I doubt we average even 3 minutes/day using the toaster since we don't use it that often. Hard to believe that any ASICs packed into it will ever ROI if they are barely ever on (and network difficulty keeps going up).
So that leaves things like space heaters and water heaters. I guess I could conceivably see those making sense, if they can convince the consumer to go through the hassle of setting up the wireless connections or whatever that will be required to run them. I suspect when real world trials start they are going to be _very_ disappointed by the hashrate they get from their big giveaways.
It was a fascinating idea though....
What about naturally cold climates though? I am sure many Russians wouldn't mind their tv spewing out extra heat at a discounted price versus other tv's.
The problem is people generally have a cheaper source of heat than electricity. Back when I started mining altcoins in Jan. 2014, we were having a wildly cold winter in Illinois, spiking propane prices through the roof to the point that the governor waived all restrictions on propane delivery truckers. So I was glad to be heating half my house with my rig instead of paying $5-6/gallon of propane at its peak. But I also did the math and realized my breakeven point was $2.71/gallon for propane, and normal propane prices around here were under $2. So once the altcoin market withered it no longer made sense to mine, even this past winter. The propane was just cheaper. Natural gas is cheaper yet, wood and corn stove heating is real cheap, and increasing numbers of folks have geothermal or other low-cost systems.
So yeah, some people will see the benefit of it, or won't do the math and think they are benefiting by getting bitcoin miners. But they will have to hunt for those people. Until I can see some math on their projected earnings/device, I've got to be skeptical. I do like the potential for decentralization though, I admit.