Tech-on-the-Cheap: Repurposing Old PDAs
Ah, the personal data (or digital) assistant. They were all the rage back in the 90’s. You were high tech with that 160×160 monochrome screen and 1MB of memory. And at those boring meetings you were always the one who looked busy, when in fact all you were doing was playing solitaire.
Okay, so that was a long time ago, but since then we have seen the evolution through color, connectivity, PDA phones, and now smart phones are the personal data assistants of this age.
Odds are that somewhere along the road you have acquired a few of these devices that fit into this category. But it is also likely that you do not use more than one or two at a time. Here’s a few ideas for that aging PDA that’s just dying to be used again.
1. Alarm Clock
A modern cellphone works great for an alarm clock, but sometimes you want something more reliable. Something… bigger. Most dedicated PDAs had decently large, backlit screens that work great in the dark. It may be a waste of horsepower, but I’ve found old PDAs to be very useful alarm clocks that don’t glow obsessively in the dark. Continue reading
