Making my first widget plugin

I have spent some time setting up my blog and playing with the design and the content.  Now I am looking to try to make my own widget plugins for my sidebars.  I would like to stream some news feed from the NY Times or from a science news feed such as Nature, Science, or any other related news feed on my sidebars.  I hope to have some of these done and put up shortly.  Wish me luck.