Here s what s on the Thursday menu.
Apple is stepping back from its iAds business and transitioning to an automated platform, reports BuzzFeed.
Yahoo settlement in class-action lawsuit over scanning of email for advertising purposes: $4 million for lawyers, nothing for users.
Egypt arrests Facebook page administrators they say are supporting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and encouraging protests ahead of the five-year anniversary of the revolt that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.
Tesla offers vegan option — faux leather seats for the Model X. (NYT)
In a letter, Sen. Al Franken presses Google for more information about Google for Education and student privacy.
Another letter: Advocacy groups ask for hearings into the Obama administration s purported surveillance of members of Congress.
Former NSA boss says he disagrees with FBI director, supports encryption.
SurveyMonkey gets new CEO: Former GoPro exec Zander Lurie. He replaces former HP exec Bill Veghte, who was named CEO in July.
PewDiePie, the big YouTube star, is creating his own content network with the help of Disney s Maker Studios. (WSJ)
Electronic Arts launches Origin Access, a new online subscription plan for PC gamers. (WSJ)
Money-back guarantee: Sebastian Thrun s Udacity says it will refund fees if graduates don t get a job within six months of completing one of four specialized degrees it s offering.
Nest thermostat bug leaves users cold, but company says problem has been fixed for most users.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt to meet with Pope Francis.
Yahoo releases largest-ever dataset for researchers: About 110 billion events of anonymized user-news item interaction data. (Yahoo announcement)
Photo: Pope Francis leads a mass at St Peter s Basilica on January 1, 2014 at the Vatican. The Pope is scheduled to meet with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images)
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