Stories related to: competition

David Archuleta may be the fan favorite on "American Idol," but his dad is now Fox's persona non grata backstage. The network has banned Jeff Archuleta, who had been intensely involved in prepping his son, after his call Tuesday to change the lyrics of “Stand By Me,” adding a verse from Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls.” More »

Go on, admit it: Dancing With the Stars has you glued to the tube like a nude bodysuit on a ballroom dancer. Don’t worry—Annie Barrett of Entertainment Weekly is right there with you. She shares the 15 reasons she’s a Dancing fool. Stars dancing with gusto, no matter how goofy. Campy men who get campier as they get older (ahem, Jerry Springer). Out-of-control costumes: sequins, spangles, feathers, masks! More »

The Justice Department today approved the proposed merger between satellite radio firms Sirius and XM, the Wall Street Journal r eports. The FCC must still sign off, but the pair appears to have allayed antitrust concerns about the merger of the industry's two largest companies by arguing that they face competition from all music providers, including conventional radio. More »

The new ABC show Oprah’s Big Give might be exactly what it claims—an epically scaled, nurturing-obsessed cult of personality—but the format is old and unsuitable, Nancy Franklin writes in the New Yorker , and the star is self-obsessed. The competition charity program sometimes reduced to her tears, Franklin allows, but mastery of manipulation is no great shakes in and of itself. More »

Billionaires have a new way to one-up wealthy neighbors: Buy a bigger yacht. Such jumbo boats confer "bragging rights,” one expert says. "No question, that’s a very strong part of the motivation.” And competition is riding a new crest: Four times as many superyachts, all more than 80 feet long, were being built last year than 10 years ago, the New York Times reports.  More »

The US is expecting a record number of applications for H-1B visas—given to highly skilled, specialized foreign workers—and is considering rules to penalize companies that try to improve their chances, ComputerWorld reports. Desperate firms have been known to send more than one application—123, 480 were received last year; 65,000 are awarded—for the same individual to increase odds of being selected. More »

The European Commission fined Microsoft today a record $1.35 billion for failing to comply with its 2004 antitrust ruling. The EU's executive branch said that the company continued to charge "unreasonable prices" to developers building programs for Windows despite both the earlier ruling and a court verdict last September. The fine is the largest ever for a single company, dwarfing the $613 million penalty the commission imposed on Microsoft in 2004. More »

Will the 4th of July ever be the same? For 5 years, the day has belonged to Takeru Kobayashi, the unstoppable winner of Nathan's annual hot dog eating contest. But the chow champ—a Japanese professional eater nicknamed "tsnuami" for his technique—is in a pickle. He can barely open his mouth due to an arthritic jaw. More »