[CentOS] Alert icon for yum

Hi all.  I have a simple question:  CentOS relies mostly on "yum" to 
keep systems up to date, although I understand that like on RHEL, 
"up2date" is also available.  On my system I've run both KDE and GNOME 
as Graphical Desktops under X (though I presently run GNOME), and I've 
noticed that there is an applet called "CentOS Network Alert Icon" (from 
the "System Tools" menu) which when run appears in a "status area" in a 
panel to show whether the system needs updating or not.  This applet 
shows the up2date sources, but my question is:  Is there any way to have 
some sort of similar applet that does this for yum.   I just think that 
when we add repos we usually add them through yum.  Also when we update 
the system we usually use yum.  Hence I think it would be better to use 
an applet similar to up2date's for yum so that there is no need to edit 
both yum and up2date files and there is consistency between when the 
applet signals a need for updating and the actual "yum update" command.  
Am I making sense?

I found a site (http://fedoranews.org/tchung/yum-applet/) with the 
source for a yum applet.  I know I can build this for myself, but I was 
wondering what others on this list think and whether such an applet 
should be more widely available to the general CentOS audience.  Can I 
go ahead and build this for my system?  TIA for your answers.

Sincerely
Jose Alburquerque