This Geeklet displays news on your desktop from an RSS feed. You can specify the address of the feed, how many recent items to show, and a maximum length for each item.
Creating a script to parse a specific RSS feed is quite easy, but creating a script that will work with any feed is much more difficult. This is mainly because each feed often has its own subtle differences. I've tested the script in this Geeklet with loads of RSS feeds, and it works with pretty much all of them. There are bound to be some that don't work, so if you want me to take a look just post the feed address in the comments and I'll try and make it work. Also, if anyone can suggest any improvements, add them in the comments and I will update the script.
Download the Geeklet linked below and open it up in GeekTool. The first three lines of the command are:
URL="http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/technology/rss.xml"
maxLength="500"
start="3"
end="9"
The first line is to specify the RSS feed. "maxLength" is to set a maximum length to each item in the feed. "start" is to set how many paragraphs at the start of the feed you want to hide. This is useful for hiding the main title and description of the feed. "end" is to set how many items you want to show.
