This shows a basic example i made for using indicators in Ubuntu desktop env. It uses pyGTK to make simple looking indicators for top bar.
The .png file is the icon that gets displayed on the top while the script runs. Currently clicking on the 1st menu item will update the value. The click based event was used as this is not a "notifier" rather a peek thru interface to provide secondary info. I had planned to use it for olympics but India is not performing good this time :/