Recently I was invited to speak at the launch of the Sydney mega 2009.

A personal connection

Brad HowarthAugust 18, 2008

Queensland-based entrepeneur Rhys Cooper got involved in his latest project after realising what it is like to be alone; really alone. So alone you can't phone anyone for help. Not because you have no-one to call but because you can't use a mobile phone.
That was the experience of a 34-year-old man with Down's Syndrome, who having missed his bus connection was left stranded without any form of communication. He was eventually located after police and bus operators were alerted, just two kilometres from his home, having waited more than seven hours....
(For the full article please click on the link below...)
 
http://www.smh.com.au/news/innovations/a-personal-connection/2008/08/19/...
 

Aussie phone for disabled wins recognition

With Australia's mobile phone penetration now sitting at around 100 per cent, it's easy to forget that there are still groups for whom the technology remains out of reach.

Rhys Cooper became aware of this during the five years he spent working with intellectually disabled adults. Modern mobile phones were simply too complex with too many options to be used easily. So last year he formed a company, Orange Dot, and set about creating a new type of phone that would be usable by a wide group of both intellectually and visually disabled people.

Earlier this year he built his first prototype based on a touchscreen phone from HTC, and then in May was named the winner in the Freelance category of the MEX Mobile User Experience Awards in London.

(For the Full article please click on the link below....)

http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/bootstrappr/soa/Aussie-phone-for-disabled-wins-recognition/0,2001092438,339296765,00.htm?feed=pt_rhys_cooper

After participating in mega 2008 Orange dot was proud to have an article titled A Personal Connection written about the success of orange dot's business pitch