The netspeed_applet version in portage doesn't work with gnome 2.6, so a new version needs to be added. I am attaching a new ebuild which works.
Created attachment 28662 [details] netspeed_applet-0.9.2.ebuild The only change is the SRC_URI line from the 0.9 ebuild.
I confirm this ! The stable netspeed_applet-0.8 and unstable netspeed_applet-0.9 in Portage won't compile with Gnome 2.6. But netspeed_applet-0.9.2 does :-)
Going ahead and bumping this myself, since it impacts nothing and is broken on two counts anyway.