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The SES-9 on the pad. Weather conditions are 60 percent "go" for a launch on Wednesday. (credit: SpaceX)

Update: Due to weather concerns SpaceX scrubbed Wednesday's launch attempt. The company will try again Thursday, when the launch window again opens at 6:46pm ET.

Original story: Weather permitting, SpaceX will launch a commercial communications satellite, SES-9, to a geostationary transfer orbit on Wednesday at 6:46pm ET. The rocket company will try yet again to fly its booster back to an automated ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.

However, because this is a high orbit (about 35,000km above the equator) and will require a heavy vehicle with more fuel and more speed, returning safely back to Earth is far from a sure thing. Still, the company says it will make another attempt at a historic first, landing an orbital rocket on a sea-based platform.

A recent satellite image of Imam Khomeni Space Center shows that the launch gantry for a Simorgh "satellite launching vehicle" is in position for fueling and launch of the rocket. (credit: Arms Control Wonk/ Middlebury/Airbus Defense and Space)

Just weeks after North Korea successfully launched a satellite into orbit, Iran is preparing an attempt to match that effort—and rocket ahead in the development of its own ICBM technology in the process. Images obtained by Melissa Hanham, Catherine Dill, and Dr Jeffrey Lewis of Arms Control Wonk from Apollo Mapping and Airbus Defense and Space show that the Imam Khomeni Space Center near Semnan, Iran, is actively preparing for a launch. The Iranian government has issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) warning them away from the area from March 1 to March 2.

The Khomeni Space Center is near Semnan, Iran—about 200 kilometers east of Tehran. The launch vehicle being stacked there, called the Simorgh, is designed to put a 100 kilogram payload (220 pounds) into a low-earth orbit of 500 kilometers (310 miles, or roughly 270 nautical miles).

The satellite, which was unveiled in February, is called the Friendship Testing Satellite. It's essentially a giant "cubesat" carrying a number of experiments. And like the North Korean Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite launched in February, the Friendship Testing Satellite is roughly the mass of a nuclear warhead.

(credit: Kim Davies)

There's been ongoing dialogue about Apple's upcoming legal strategy in its battle with the government about whether it should be required to comport with a court order mandating that the Cupertino gadget maker assist the authorities in accessing a locked, encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. One legal angle that has largely been overlooked is the Fifth Amendment.

Here at Ars, we already produced a lengthy feature focusing on the All Writs Act of 1789, a law invoked by judges to order somebody to do something despite there being no law requiring them to do so. That ancient law is at the heart of the government's argument demanding that Apple write custom software to assist the authorities in unlocking the encrypted iPhone used by killer Syed Rizwan Farook, who participated in a shooting spree in December that killed 14 people. Our Ars story overlooked a Fifth Amendment defense and largely discussed a nuanced three-pronged approach to how Apple will defend its stance of not wanting to provide assistance to the government's request. If Apple is ultimately ordered to comply, Apple chief Tim Cook said it would set a "dangerous precedent."

Then on Tuesday, Bloomberg wrote that Apple will also argue in its legal papers to be filed by Friday that computer code and its cryptographic autograph are protected speech under the First Amendment and that the government cannot compel speech by Apple. Bloomberg reported:

Bill Montgomery is the Maricopa County Attorney. (credit: Gage Skidmore)

On Wednesday, an Arizona county attorney's office announced that it will immediately halt "providing iPhones as an option for replacement or upgrades for existing employees," citing the current legal battle between Apple and the Department of Justice.

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook again reiterated the company’s firm commitment to privacy and its resolve to fight a new court order issued earlier this month. If the order stands up to legal challenges, Apple would be forced to create a new customized iOS firmware that would remove the passcode lockout on a seized iPhone as part of the ongoing San Bernardino terrorism investigation.

Maricopa County, the nation’s fourth most populous county, which encompasses Phoenix and the surrounding area, is also well-known for its very conservative sheriff, Joe Arpaio.

In a cryptic message posted on its website, SlySoft, a company that made several applications devoted to defeating DRM schemes, announced that it has shut down. “Due to recent regulatory requirements we have had to cease all activities relating to SlySoft Inc.,” reads the brief message. “We wish to thank our loyal customers/clients for their patronage over the years.”

SlySoft made its name by creating software capable of defeating the Content Scrambling System used by DVDs and later by defeating the Advanced Access Content System and BD+ DRM used by Blu-ray and HD DVD.

In 2016, a time when digital distribution is ubiquitous, the landscape of a decade ago seems almost quaint. Content creators were just as determined to keep video as locked down as they are today, but the battle was waged with DRMed optical discs on one side and decryption software on the other. And SlySoft’s AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD were favored weapons of Windows users who wanted to copy DRMed movies to their hard drives for personal use (and for uploading to P2P sites). Even if you didn't care too much about format-shifting, AnyDVD made it possible to skip past trailers users were forced to watch on DVD players.

Mercedes F1

Nico Rosberg puts some miles on his Mercedes W07 at the first preseason test in Barcelona.

3 more images in gallery

This week, the people that control Formula 1 racing got together in Geneva, Switzerland, to come up with some ideas to fix the sport. At first glance, it appears they might instead have broken the one bit of the show—qualifying on Saturday afternoons—that still holds any real excitement for fans. Changes to 2017's technical rules are also coming. The introduction of better head protection for drivers is welcome, but the rest of the tweaks appear—to almost everyone outside of the F1 Strategy Group and the F1 Commission—to be exactly what the doctor didn't order.

Silly season is a name often given to that time of year in sports calendars when news is slow and so, to fill pages or screens, the media reports on stories that wouldn't otherwise merit the attention. In the racing world that normally coincides with late summer, there are gaps in the schedules, people take vacations, and the media is left to speculate on rumors about who's changing teams and the like. You normally wouldn't think of F1's preseason ramp-up in this way. After all, the new-for-2016 cars are currently being unveiled, and some of the teams are testing in Barcelona this week—that stuff actually matters.

However, "silly" accurately describes the proposed changes to the qualifying process this year.

Xamarin Studio, Xamarin's development environment. (credit: Xamarin)

Microsoft will buy Xamarin, maker of .NET tooling that can build apps for iOS, Android, and OS X, for an undisclosed sum.

When Microsoft first launched .NET in the early 2000s, it promised a cross-platform environment that could reach beyond Windows. The company did publish an early FreeBSD-compatible version of .NET named Rotor, and it produced versions of its Silverlight plugin for OS X, but functionally, .NET was a Windows-only affair, with the other platforms distant memories.

In parallel with Microsoft's efforts, an open source version of .NET named Mono was created by Ximian, an open source company founded by Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman. Ximian was acquired by Novell in 2003, and Novell was bought by Attachmate in 2011. Attachmate laid off all Mono staff shortly after the acquisition, and de Icaza and Friedman founded Xamarin later that same year to continue their work with Mono.