At this point in time it is difficult to purchase a 4K TV without the 'smart' feature.

You can purchase many microcontrollers preprogrammed at the factory. The PIC is one such example. With low cost parts like these assembly is going to be a significant cost. The 555 may have been the best choice in the past but it has a lot of issues of its own. Reduced supply voltages, low power requirements and limited board space is likely to drive a designer to use something else.

Embedded and industrial machines typically have the old interfaces linger much longer then consumer boards. I have finally given up on an ISA instrument board I had used since the 90s. It is still possible to find hardware with ISA slots just not very powerful. PCI will certainly follow the same path.

There are still similar restrictions on tools such as using binoculars to look into peoples windows. Even if thermal imaging becomes much more common place it is hard to see how it would not be any less restricted.

Choose a power supply that has a zero load requirement. There are a few on the market. Why waste the power if you don't have to. Most chargers of the wall wart variety are very inefficent. A switcher with properly chosen resistor based regulator is going to be no worse.