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[LeoLeonardoIII]

Here's a simple method used in wargames and other gridless games where you still need precise measurement: a ruler.

Or measuring tape, actually. You can get a cheap one in a mini-sewing kit, and it's really small too.

For a burst, the caster must mark the target point. Then measure in eight directions, trying to space them out so your marks describe a neat circle. I can freehand a circle from four points, but try eight and if that's too hard just measure a few more. You can also just measure from the center to each potential target (which saves a lot of time if half the area is empty) but this can tip smart players off if you measure for a target that they don't know exists (invisible, etc).

For a cone as defined in 3.5 (a quarter-circle), the caster marks a dot in the direction where he points the cone. Then measure the cone's length such that the caster and his dot-mark are along the line. Mark the end-point. Place a piece of paper that you know has a square corner with one corner on the caster, and try to get the corner centered, and draw a line along each edge away from the caster. Remove your paper, measure along one of these lines to the length of the cone. Do the same for the other one. These are the outer corners of the cone. Still using the caster as the center, use the full cone length to measure to between the end-point and a corner-point, until you get a quarter-circle.

More simply you could just draw a circle as for bursts and have the caster choose where along the line he wants his end-point for the cone. This makes the cone more accurate for the caster. The problem is figuring out for any cone direction where his side corners are. That's why we do the piece of paper corner thing above.

If you have a grid mat with a wet- or dry-erase surface, it can help with measurement, but cones always seem to cause problems.

SRD states that any target which is in a square touched by the area of effect is affected. If you're not using a grid, I suggest that the rule applies if the area touches the base of the figure. This grants a slight benefit to figures with nonstandard bases, but halflings should be dodgy anyway. 

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#area

EDIT: I had a bad method for the cone, and anybody with a lick of geometry sense would have slapped me for it.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

For 3D area of effect, if you have the terrain and the figure is on it and that's actually where he is, just use your tape measure. You can't really mark the burst in the air, but you can measure to each target individually and make assumptions (the guy in the back got hit so we assume his friends who were closer would have gotten hit).

If you don't have terrain, you probably at least know how high the target is. You can do the math in your head (the range of the cone is 9" and the guy is 12" up, so you can't hit him) but if it's questionable you can actually pick up the figure and measure its height using a tape measure, hold it there, and use a second tape measure to determine area of effect related to him.

Everyone could have one. They're like $1. But you rarely need more than one at the table.

About this post and my above post: once you get used to it, you can generally mark the center and four points of a burst or the end-point of a cone and just eyeball it. If it looks reasonable that I could plot out a Fireball hitting enemies and not friends, on behalf of the player, I'll often just let it go without measurement and marking. When I have an opponent do something I always mark it out though. And a grid mat really helps, you can often get away with a really fast measurement if you have the caster mark his target and you slam down a couple dots, end of job.

Just get picky when the caster is trying to lay down a Fireball in a confused melee with laser-precision so he misses his friends and hits as many enemies as possible ... but then again, the Tetris-satisfaction he gets when he can figure out just the right spot is pretty fun.