The thinking goes this way: it’s been tough for Al Jazeera to find a home on American cable television. So why not try a new approach? Kid’s programming. Because if cable operators object to offering viewers exposure to Al Jazeera’s news, they’ll probably jump at the chance to provide those viewers Al Jaz for Kids! Or so goes the thinking, as reported by Fast Company‘s Neal Ungerleider, who says “the new English-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel is scheduled to launch by the end of 2012” and will feature syndicated shows and original programming from the network’s existing Arabic-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel.

Last week, Rupert Murdoch made headlines when details about his iPad-only newspaper emerged. As Neal Ungerleider writes at Fast Company, though, Murdoch also did something else of note last week: he began “investing in an Israeli-American oil shale company with ties to Dick Cheney.” Conspiracy theorists, start your engines.

Shaquille O’Neal has been a superstar on the court – and now he’s one on Twitter.

As he prepares to join the Boston Celtics, Fast Company looks at just how influential Shaq has become in the area of social media.

The American Society of Magazine Editors announced nominations for their annual National Magazine Awards last week, and for the first time included a brand new category: Magazine of the year. The official press release from the Magazine Publishers of America, defines the new award as, “honor(ing) publications that successfully use both print and digital media in fulfilling the editorial mission of the magazine.” Let’s take a look at the first time honorees: The Atlantic; Fast Company; Glamour; Men’s Health; and New York.

Facebook users logging in since last night have been greeted by an open letter from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg outlining a sweeping set of changes to the site. Regional networks are officially dead and gone, and privacy settings are getting a major shakeup. The 18,000+ comments on Zuckerberg’s note tend towards favorable, but one, somewhat unrelated question keeps popping up: where’s the dislike button?

Esquire is teasing its upcoming December issue as a new “living, breathing, moving, talking magazine,” using 3-D technology and augmented reality to integrate real images and graphics with both its articles and advertisements. The issue features six interactive “boxes” and at least one Lexus ad in which readers can use their computers to see bonus three-dimensional features. Will this lure advertisers? It better.

In the face of an uncertain future for journalism, any tactic used to gain more readers should be leapt on. The Twitter “retweet” is one way to ensure your news and ideas are passed on to more and more followers and has become one of the most important aspects of the social networking service. As a part of his upcoming book, viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella has come up with a list of the “nine most effective ways to get retweeted on Twitter” and they’re simpler than you might think.

In anticipation of his new book Viral Loop about “the interconnectedness of today’s socially networked society,” Adam Penenberg (Fast Company, Wired) has commissioned the design of an eponymous Facebook application to test his thesis. Described as part “infographic, game, and research project” Viral Loop estimates what slice of Facebook’s billions are all thanks to your activity on the site.

Yesterday, MSNBC.com announced its plans to buy EveryBlock, an upstart young website that aggregates newspaper articles, blog posts, Flickr photos, and public records: so-called “hyper-local coverage” in fifteen cities. Could this spell out yet more bad news for newspapers.

Before the Web, magazines were immediate, relevant and “dripping cool,” says veteran magazine guy Jim Gaines. These days, however, magazine websites are none of those things. Enter the online multimedia magazine Flyp, Gaines’ attempt at synthesizing the dripping cool, the gripping narrative and the masterful design of magazines for the Web.