The British government rejected a plea to extend copyright laws for sound recordings to beyond 50 years on Tuesday, prompting the music industry to accuse it of not supporting musicians and artists.

The music industry had won support from opposition politicians and a parliamentary committee in its bid for a copyright extension that would allow veterans such as Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney to carry on receiving royalties in later life.

The government would have had to push the European Commission for a change in the law but said such a move did not seem appropriate as it would not benefit the majority of performers and could lead to increased costs.

Hackers could take control of an iPhone if its owner visits a doctored Web site or Internet hotspot, security researchers reported Monday.

The vulnerability of the vaunted device, Apple Inc.’s first cell phone, is only theoretical for now. There are no reports of criminals actually taking advantage of the security glitch to remotely access an iPhone.

But if it were exploited, hijacked iPhones could be very useful to the same gangs that take over personal computers and use them to disseminate spam, said Charlie Miller, principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, which discovered the flaw.

When TiVo Inc. introduced a high-definition digital video recorder last fall, it touted the long-awaited set-top box as a best-in-class product with a price tag to match.

But in a market already filled with lower-priced offerings from cable companies and other rivals, TiVo’s $800 Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder had a hard time winning customers, even as throngs of consumers opened their wallets for high-definition televisions during the holiday season.

This year, TiVo hopes to widen its appeal with a more affordable model: the TiVo HD DVR for $299.99.

The Alviso-based company will begin taking pre-orders for it on its Web site Tuesday, and units are expected to hit retail outlets by early August.