My uncle gave an old PDA he didn’t want anymore. I haven’t actually looked at it much yet to give specifics. But I’m having trouble thinking of any use this thing could possibly have. I remember a few years back they were very popular–but what were people using them for? Does it really have a use that isn’t already done better by something else?
What kind is it? If it is a Palm or Windows CE (doubtful) device, you might be able to download applications or games and put them on it.
Or you could, like, get organized with it somehow.
You can use it to calculate tips.
You can make a brooch, or a pterodactyl…
I have a Zire 31, and it used to be great. My aunt gave it to me, with a membership to an e-book thing, and I had all kinds of games (Monopoly being my favorite) and books and everyone’s phone number and it was good.
Then something Very Bad happened, I let the battery completely drain or something, and poof. All gone. All of it. Now I have to take a day or so to reload everything into it. Tears spring to my eyes at the thought of it.
You could sent it to me.
I want one and I don’t know why or have the funds to give into this craving.
You could go over to Project Gutenburg and put some of the classics on it. Does it have an IR port? If so, you can find a program to use it as a (rather poor, but very customizable) remote control.
Yo can roll dice for D&D with it. Nothing slows down a game like rolling 400 d6’s for your epic spells. Or so I’m told. 
Some of the things on my Palm Lifedrive:
Sudoku.
Agression (a risk type game).
Warfare Incorporated (a Command and Conquer type of game).
Pictures of family (They show up great on a colour palm like my Lifedrive)
CityTime (a program that has multiple time zones and makes it easy to change the time when you move from one location to another. A must for travellers. The same program has a currency converter)
Splash Office (includes Splash ID that encrypts all the data you put in there. Excellent for the hundreds of passwords and logins I’ve created over the years).
BigClock (an alarm program. You don’t need a travel clock with a Palm).
PDA Cookbook (A real useful recipe program that includes a smart paste feature that will automatically put the ingredients into the correct columns. It also includes a shopping list feature that makes going to the store a breeze).
Ereader (I have over 300 books already on my PDA and about another 1500 to convert once I find the time to do so.)
For me, the most important feature is syncing with my corporate calendar to see all of my meetings (using extra software I had to buy). I also like reading Gutenburg books on it.
Having a really fast and easy to use list of contacts is also great.
For my wife, the “killer app” is the Bible software – no more flipping through pages searching for verses during the sermon. The programs out there (quite inexpensive) allow you to go to any verse in three taps “John” “3” “16” and you’re there.
Go to palmgear.com (if it’s a Palm device) and check out the many thousands of cool games and the like, many freeware.
Sorry about your loss! This is totally preventable by doing a hotsync from time to time. Palm devices are pretty nice about this – just drop it in the cradle and press the button. You could then crush the device, buy a new one, hotsync again, and Bob’s your uncle. All of your installed programs, contacts, dates, notes, and whatnot are totally backed up.
I had never imagined that folks would have a PDA and not hotsync, probably because I hotsync daily to get those meetings on my device. Nevertheless, I heard a shocking statistic that the vast majority of Palm users have never hotsynced even once.