As with any emerging computational platform, there is always going to be confusion. For example, when Cloud Computing first premiered I can't count the number of times I had conversations with C-level executives, IT managers, and even engineers thinking that "The Cloud" solved their problem whereas in reality it didn't. With Edge and Fog Computing, we are very much in this early phase of ambiguity.
Unfortunately, your experience with the HL-3170CDW is extremely common. We had it happen and it is very well documented on Amazon. We found an Australian company that detailed the issue in their "fault of the week" page:
The TLDR there is that the HL-3170CDW has a sharper-than-normal lift off angle from the fuser roller (the part that fails). Inexpensive toner is more sticky than the Brother-brand toner, so it causes undue fatigue on the part.
We had this same issue happen to us about 1000 pages after switching to an ultra-cheap, pour-in toner option. We first replaced the roller with a cheap one from Ebay that ended up causing the printer to overheat. Then we bought a custom manufactured roller from the aforementioned Australian company. That one has lasted us more than 3000 page so far, even with the cheap toner.
Note: if you elect to change the roller yourself, don't touch the heating element / bulb inside of the roller with your fingers!
Your dream is not too far away from reality. Devices like Mozilla's Things Gateway (https://iot.mozilla.org/gateway/) represent some of the most ideal fog nodes as they are inexpensive and fairly powerful. Not too long ago there was even a research project called Paradrop (https://paradrop.org/) which made a fog node out of a consumer-grade router. My company is working on modeling software right now for Fog deployments and hope to use the knowledge we gain to build our own fog computing solution. Our first application will likely be either a fog-based filesystem (already done by researchers within Princeton's Edge Lab) or a Fog-based backup / NAS solution. It'll be a while before we get to this stage, but it's emerging from the mist so to speak.
One of the key benefits of Intel's solution is that the CPU and FPGA share the same RAM, avoiding the O(N) cost of moving data to/from the devices. This type of a zero-copy transaction can enable very high performance applications compared with dedicated discrete cards.
I don't know if I'd say its a mess. There are three options that are well aligned with emerging trends: Plex, Emby, and MythTV (to a lesser extent). The rest have a lot of catching up to do if they want to remain relevant.
Our client sought outside legal advice concerning topics of DRM and copyright (we are scientists and engineers, not lawyers). In general, it is illegal to stream copyrighted content (even if you own it) to devices that are not authorized to view the content. The results of American Broadcasting Cos. vs. Aereo, Inc (2014) make it quite clear these statements extends to services that re-broadcast over the air television in a public fashion.
At present, the closest capability to computing within the network fabric itself is Fog Computing. Cisco's IOx-enabled line of products (https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/cloud-systems-managem...) pair a high-end router with decent computational capabilities. Other companies, like Nebbiolo Technologies (https://www.nebbiolo.tech/) or Fog Horn (https://www.foghorn.io/) provide Fog platforms that are not as locked to specific hardware.
If you would like more information on how Cloud, Edge, and Fog differ, I'll shamelessly plug our blog post from earlier this year:
http://pratumlabs.com/blog/2018/01/what-is-fog-computing/