*Ø* Blogmanac | Cool desktop ticker
I've installed the desktop ticker from EasyByte.com on Esmeralda, my computer, and I must say, I'm impressed.

It's easy and quick to instal, I don't seem to be getting any ads, and you right-click on the ticker itself to customize the news feeds you want. You can also customize (in Options) the colours and fonts you want. It looks great with Jr 'Bob' Dobbs fonts from SubGenius's fonts page, and Blood of Dracula looks pretty good too. More mature people could always go for Verdana.