This one needed a major post, so that I knew that you'd know that this exists!

I just made a functional sidebar with links, tools and stuff (the kind of the things you're used to seeing in the sidebar) and made it toggleable with the other bar. if you see above the updates, there is a button which says 'toggle sidebar', just click on that and the bar will change to show you the tools ... click on it again, and it'll bring the updates back! :)

if you run into any troubles, do tell me! and more stuff will be added to the tools-bar soon enough, so keep a watch! :D