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Intel tackles diversity problem through referral bonuses
If the Ellen Pao case showed us anything, it's that Silicon Valley is still very much a (white) boy's club. In response a number of industry leaders including Apple, IBM, and Google, have pledged anywhere from $50 million to $300 million to boost the level of diversity in their workplaces. Intel is the latest firm to address the issue by doubling the referral bonus for any employee that successfully recruits a female, minority or veteran into the company to a whopping $4000. This is part of Intel's $300 million pledge to diversify its workforce.
Firefall launches its referral program
Are you playing and enjoying Firefall? That's great, but if your friends aren't, the game might be just a little bit more lonely. You could abduct your friends and chain them in front of a computer with the game already loaded, but that seems a bit extreme, not to mention really illegal. Maybe you'd be better off just taking advantage of the game's referral program to drag your companions into the game. That's legal, and it offers some nice benefits. If you refer someone who creates an account, you get night vision goggles, as pictured above. Score one for you! Meanwhile, if said friend goes on to purchase some Red Bean, you both get 10 extra Red Beans. So if you have friends who aren't yet playing, send a mail and see if you can't get them to sign up after all. It's cheaper than buying chains and secondary computers, too.
How to get Backblaze backups for free, forever
Many of the crew here at TUAW are fans of online backup company Backblaze, which offers unlimited space for backups for just a piddling US$5 monthly charge. But as we always tend to find out, even that small amount is too much for some folks and they'd much rather lose all of their data than shell out the cost of a Starbucks Venti Latte in Boston once a month. Backblaze now has a way for you to get all of that online backup love for free for as long as you'd like -- a refer-a-friend program. The program is quite simple: when you sign into Backblaze, you have a link to send to friends from the "Get Free Months" page. That friend gets a free month of Backblaze service right off the bat. If your friend decides to sign up for Backblaze, then you get a free month of service. If you have a lot of friends and you can get 'em all to sign up for Backblaze, then you could theoretically end up with online backup service forever. It's a great way to make sure all of you are keeping your data safe, and saving a friend from losing his or her data is worth a lot of karma points.
Get $20 in PSN credit, 1,000 Sony Rewards points for convincing someone to buy a Vita
During the month of February, Sony has launched an incentivized referral program that rewards PlayStation 3/Vita owners with $20 of PSN credit and 1,000 Sony Rewards points, provided they successfully convince a friend or family member to purchase a Vita.Your referred friend/family member also receives $20 in PlayStation Network credit, in addition to, like, the Vita they just bought, which makes this whole thing a pretty easy sell for anyone who had already planned on buying a new handheld this month. If you don't know anyone like that, however, might we suggest bribing them with the copy of Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation that you bought with your 1,000 Sony Rewards points?
Solavei MVNO will pay you when your friends sign up, $49 a month all-in for those without any
Unlike regular mobile networks, virtual operators -- or MVNOs -- have none of those expensive cellular infrastructures to worry about. Newcomer, Solavei, (which rides atop T-Mobile) is using this freedom to focus in on its business model. Just out of beta, the provider is offering unlimited voice, text and data for $49 per month, or free. Free? Well, if you're silver-tongued enough to talk friends and family into signing up, too, you'll get $20 kickback a month for every three -- or "trio" as the marketing calls it -- that you convince. There are other bonuses and chances to earn money -- all obviously aimed at spreading the network's audience, and offsetting the lower overheads. You can also use your own unlocked phone, or buy one of the three that Solavei currently offers (HTC One X, Wildfire S and ZTE Origin). This isn't the first time we've seen such philanthropic approaches, and it might smack a little bit of MLM, but if your after an all-you-can eat mobile deal, and have a large group of friends, this could be a nice little earner. Still not sold? Perhaps the feel-good corporate video after the break will switch that up.
Canonical launches Ubuntu One referrals program, lets you earn cloud storage one friend at a time
If you're rich in buddies, but poor in cloud storage space, Canonical will let you turn those relations into megabytes with its new Ubuntu One referrals program. If you didn't want to pay before, you could get up to 5GB of storage, with an upgrade to 20GB available for $30 per year. Now, you can use the new link on the service's web dash to tell your contacts all about it via Twitter, Facebook or email. For each one that signs up, you'll get an extra 500MB, gratis, as will your newly clouded pal. However, if you're thinking you can leverage that fat Twitter list into terrabytes of offsite storage joy, think again -- the limit is 40 invites, or 20GB. Still, that's that's not bad compared to the competition and other referral programs, so check the source to see how to start.
Dropbox doubles referral rewards, offers up to 32GB for those dripping in charisma
That whole 'refer a friend' thing must be working. Or maybe it isn't. Either way, Dropbox has felt the need to double the extra capacity you get as a reward for persuading your buddies that cloud storage really is 153x better than a USB stick. For each successful referral, you'll now get 500MB up to a maximum of 16GB. Pro users will get 1GB per referral up to a limit of 32GB. Get in there quick before someone else in your gang starts promoting Google Drive and its rumored document editing capabilities.[Thanks, Ninad]
City of Heroes opens up friend referrals once again
Are you the sort that gets by with a little help from your friends? How about getting a free month of game time with a little help from your friends? City of Heroes has rolled out a revamped version of its referral program, giving players goodies for successfully referred players, whether the person in question has never picked up the game before or has just been a lapsed player. And if your referral target subscribes, you both get a bonus. Any player who does not have an active City of Heroes account or has an account that's been inactive for 90 days is eligible for the referral, which can be processed through the official site or via the in-game market. Assuming your target subscribes for at least one month, you receive an extra month for free, and the referred player receives a bonus of 500 Paragon Points in the market. Paragon Studios, meanwhile, gets another player. So really, everyone wins.
City of Heroes invites you to invite a friend
It's a busy weekend over at City of Heroes, as not only is the Freedom program in full swing, but Paragon Studios is prepping a new replacement refer-a-friend program to rope in as many stray cattle players as possible. Current City of Heroes VIP players will soon once again be able to send out invites to friends, family members, and unusually intelligent heifers who have either never played the game before or who are former players whose accounts have been inactive for over 90 days. If the recipient decides to become a VIP player (i.e., subscriber), then both the inviter and invitee will find themselves the proud possessors of 500 additional Paragon Points to spend in the in-game store. Friends can either be invited through the NCsoft website or the Paragon Market. While the program is not yet operational, Paragon Studios promises to let us know the moment it goes live.
Refer a friend to Aion, get free Abyss Points
NCsoft is dangling a few goodies in front of current Aion subscribers in the form of their revamped Refer A Friend program and its myriad incentives. If you've got an active account that's over six weeks old (and have paid for at least six weeks of game time), you can log into your NCsoft Master Account and click the Refer A Friend link in the Actions section to get started. If your referral purchases either a retail box or digital copy of the game, you'll be gifted with three Major Ancient Crowns, currently valued at a whopping 6400 AP each. If your referral signs up for one month or more of Aion game time, you'll get a free paid month credited to NCsoft Master Account. Your friend isn't left out either, as NCsoft will email each referral a serial code that includes XP bonus items, running scrolls, courage scrolls, and recovery serums. Check out the official site for all the details and regulations.
Referral program launches for Champions Online
Cryptic is putting forward a referral program for Champions Online, offering all kinds of bonuses for players who successfully recruit friends and family into the game. You can read about the ins and outs of the program on its official rundown page and we've listed all the rewards after the cut, so check that out now if you're itching to find out. Overall? The rewards represent a pretty good deal for those that can get a couple friends to pick up the game. It's definitely a good thing that Cryptic has been quick to offer incentives for players to reach out to friends they know and offer them trial. Playing with friends is always more fun than playing by your lonesome, after all.
Git along, li'l dogies
Time for a little WoW blog roundup, cowpokes! Whoopie-ti-yi-yo!Making gold with second account | Full Time WoW AddictWith Blizzard's new refer-a-friend incentive, you might be thinking about opening a second account to get those XP benefits. Even better, Examino at Full Time WoW Addict shows you how to earn your raiding gold with some light multiboxing. No Wrath spoilers!Spellpower and You: Gearing in WotLK | Banana ShouldersSiha at Banana Shoulders (best blog name ever!) compares theories to practice in Wrath's current Paladin spellpower changes.Achievements and why they suck | Yet Another Warlock NerfSome people think the achievements system coming in Wrath is awesome sauce. Horns at Yet Another Warlock Nerf vigorously disagrees.Three more blog dogies after the break...
Barrens Chat: Revenge for all those missing hooves
I'm moving this weekend, and packing and cleaning all week, so this week's episode is a short one!When I first heard that Blizzard announced the Recruit-a-Friend program was going to be giving zhevra mounts as incentive, I must say that I heaved a very audible groan. You see, we've already referred all the friends we can talk into playing, the last of which we drug into our mad little World (of Warcraft) not even a month ago.So, after reading through all the things being offered as referral incentive, my significant other decided to make the suggestion that I start a new account so that he can have a zhevra mount. My response was something very similar to what you see when you click the banner. That and I had to torture the target of what I consider to be one of the most annoying quests ever. Two hours for four hooves is crazy, and I am apparently that unlucky!See you next week! %Gallery-22361% Barrens Chat is a weekly comic strip brought to you by Megan Harris, who likes to pretend she belongs to a secret society of assassins. When she's not laughing at the misfortune of children, she's explaining why some people's Taurens shouldn't ride anything smaller than a Kodo. If she doesn't get packed into one of those boxes that say "Kitchen" and forgotten--you know, the ones people just never got around to unpacking?--a new comic will be up next week!
TiVo officially shutting down TiVo Rewards referral program
Though we had heard whispers for the past few days, it looks like TiVo is coming clean with its plans to nix the long-standing TiVo Rewards program. For those unaware, said program was used to encourage TiVo owners to coax friends and family (or strangers, for that matter) to pick up a TiVo for themselves, and if they did so, the referrer would earn credits that could be redeemed for all sorts of wares. Additionally, users could accumulate points by charging up their TiVo Platinum MasterCard, but it looks like all that fun will come to an end on May 28th at 11:59PM EST. For more details on the phase out process, be sure and visit the read link.[Thanks, Aaron]
SWG's "Buddy Program" is a win-win-win-win situation
If ever there was an optimistic expression of the seductive power of the MMO, it's in the trial program. All game makers have to do is offer a way for existing subscribers to give a taste of their product to their friends, and these new players will fall head over heels into the pile of paying customers. It's a sound marketing strategy really; who knows better which kinds of people will be weak to the siren song of an MMO better than their friends, co-workers, and family members? In politics, they call this micro-targeting.According to Cameron Sorden over at Random Battle, the thing that sets SWG's Buddy Program apart from the competition is that instead of offering incentives in the form of free playtime (as with the popular Tabula Rasa Recruit a Rookie program), they offer in-game rewards to players. By Sorden's logic, most gamers already consider their subscription fees a sunk cost, so the greatest incentive is something that will enhance their in-game experience. He takes it a step forward and suggests that rewarding players for recruiting whole networks of new players, would provide the greatest return to all parties involved. It's an interesting perspective, though personally I would probably stop short of the whole pyramid scheme idea.
