PandaBar is a Mac App that brings Pandora to your Mac menu bar, but it doesn’t stop there. In addition to moving Pandora out of your browser, it also supports keyboard shortcuts for media playback and the Apple remote.

The app runs on its own, using little memory, so that you don’t have to keep a browser open or worry about closing your Pandora tab in the middle of an epic guitar solo.

PandaBar is Mac only, and is available in the Mac App Store for $4.99. The app works with Pandora One and regular Pandora subscribers.

PandaBar puts Pandora in the Menu Bar and Supports Keyboard Media Buttons.

Once you have PandaBar installed, you can control all of Pandora in your menubar. This includes switching tracks, changing stations and thumbing a song up or down. Best of all, you can use the media controls on your keyboard to control Pandora. This includes Pause, Play and skip track.

I have been looking for an app with all of these features since I discovered Pandora, and can definitely say that PandaBar is well worth $5.

PandaBar Allows Full Pandora Access in the Menu Bar

Via Lifehacker

PandaBar Adds Pandora to Menu Bar and Brings Keyboard Media Controls [Mac] is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Restore Disk is Nixed

If you bought a MacBook Pro before Lion, you would get a nice restore disk used to install the OS when you have a catastrophe or just want to clean up your Mac with a clean install of the OS. This is something you should consider doing once a year, or every time you install a major OS update, in order to keep things running smoothly. Think of it as spring cleaning for your computer. Now there is no restore disk because Lion comes with a restore feature, a lot like Windows PC users have been putting up with for years. Boot the system and restore before it goes into the OS.

One solution is to create a Lion install disk from the update following our guide. While I loved the switch from a DVD to a USB disk that came with the 2010 MacBook Air, I really hate this move and I am sure most Apple fans feel like a tiny bit of the Apple glimmer shows signs of tarnish. When I moved to a Mac last fall, this was one of the things I counted as a benefit. No longer! But don’t worry because you still get those cool Apple stickers and cleaning cloth.

Keyboard F3 and F4 Launches Mission Control and Launchpad

The old Mac keyboard’s F3 and F4 keys launched Expose’ and Dashboard. Now they launch Mission Control and Launchpad. Nice changes if you like the two new features in Lion. If not, this might be an annoyance.

For those who like to use your old Mac keyboard to quickly launch Mission Control and Launchpad using these same keys in Lion, you can by going into the Keyboard Settings in System Properties. Click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and look for Mission Control in the left hand list. It will be the second thing on the list. Click in the box at the far right so that it lets you change it. Tap the fn + F3 keys and you have a new shortcut to launch Mission Control. Do the same for Launchpad which you find in the list on the right first. On the left do the same and assign it to the fn+F4 key and you have these new features on your old keyboard.

Packaging Changes and OS Build Number

The obvious difference in packaging comes with a new picture on the cover showing the stock Lion desktop background on the MacBook Pro. Inside, aside from leaving out the restore DVD or USB disk the booklet is slightly different.

The OS X Lion build number is slightly different adding an A to the end of the 10A511 build number bringing it to 10A511a. No tangible differences were noticed.

Source: MacTrast via MacRumors

MacBook Pro Updated for Lion In Small, But Noticeable, Ways is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

The obvious answers might be to standardize keyboards or to allow users who buy an external USB optical disc drive to eject it. But there is a third less obvious answer that might also be more useful. The eject button is used for some handy OS X keyboard shortcuts.

• Eject alone – ejects the optical disc caddy if one is present
• Option-Eject – when a send drive is connected, it ejects the disc caddy
• Option-Command-Eject – puts computer to sleep
• Control-Command-Eject – restart computer after offering to save all open documents that are unsaved and close applications
• Control-Option-Command-Eject – same as previous but shuts down instead

Apple has a complete list of OS X keyboard shortcuts.

Another useful keyboard shortcut for MacBook Air users includes one to move up or down a page since the computer’s keyboard doesn’t have those buttons. Use the Fn+Up/Down Arrow for up/down a page. By the way the left/right arrows do the same when paired with the Fn key.

Shift+Command+I opens your iDisk space, helpful for those with tiny SSDs like the 11-inch MacBook Air with only 64GB.

And for all Mac users, one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts is the Command+Space to open the Spotlight search. Use this to look for documents, Internet bookmarks or more importantly to find an application to launch.

Why Does the MacBook Air Have an Eject Button? We Explain the Mystery is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

I have never learned the keyboard shortcuts that make navigating and using Gmail so much easier. Now that I use Gmail so much, I plan to and thought I should share them with you. With a single tap of a key you can do things like archive a message, delete it, and more.

But to do so you will first have to turn them on and learn what they are.

To make sure keyboard shortcuts are turned on, log into your account and click on Settings in the upper right. Then on the General Tab find the item for Keyboard shortcuts. It has two options, off and on. Make sure on is marked and then scroll down to save changes.

Now you can use the shortcuts. Here are some of the most useful ones …

c = compose start a new email to someone

/ = search find old messages based on keywords so long as you archived instead of deleted them

n = next message moves down in your list

p = previous message moves up in your list

e = archive this puts the message in your folder for old messages where it won’t be seen in the inbox but won’t be deleted anyway

r = reply creates a message to only the person who sent the original message

a = reply to all creates a message to everyone the original message was sent to

With so much storage, you really should be archiving most messages unless you have a spam account like I do. With that one I delete most messages unless they are important and worthwhile. By the way to mark a message as spam hit the exclamation mark (!).

But what if you want to use a different letter for one of the above? For example, I’d rather have the letter “a” assigned to archive than to reply to all. First go into the Labs tab and enable the Custom Keyboard Shortcuts feature in that list. Then go into your settings and click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab to change them as you please.

There are many other shortcuts. You can find the help file listing them all here. And there is also a great printable list as well. You can even get Gmail shortcut stickers to put on your keyboard if you don’t mind having stickers on your keyboard. The link takes you to Amazon and they are only $4. Gmail had some free ones for a while, but they’ve discontinued that program. If you don’t like putting stickers on your keyboard and are willing to pay a little extra Amy Zunk posted awhile back about the amazing Gboard, a USB device that looks like a NumPad but has Gmail shortcut keys instead.

What’s your most used Gmail keyboard shortcut?

How To Use Keyboard Shortcuts in Gmail is a post by Kevin Purcell from Notebooks.com.

With the standard windows 7 keyboard shortcuts you can increase your daily work productivity web surfing significantly. Earlier versions of Windows operating system didn’t offer as many keyboard shortcuts,  but Windows 7 has added a number of new keyboard shortcuts which make managing multiple windows fun and easy.

Notebooks.com has listed Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts for our readers which we find useful.

Ease of Access keyboard Shortcuts:

Window logo Keyboard Shortcuts:

* Win stands for Windows key button

Dialog Box keyboard Shortcuts:

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for use in dialog boxes.

Window Explorer keyboard Shortcut:

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Windows Explorer windows or folders.

For more keyboard shortcuts to stay productive check out Notebooks.com’s Browser Keyboard shortcut guide.

Image via orangeacid

Get Productive with Window 7 Keyboard Shortcuts is a post by Rajesh from Notebooks.com.

• Open new tab: ctrl+t
• Close tab: ctrl+w
• Move to right tab: ctrl+tab
• Move to left tab: ctrl+shift+tab
• Move cursor to address bar: ctrl+l

I’ve prepared a short video showing the different between browsing with and without keyboard shortcuts. It isn’t exactly a practical example of browsing, but the goal here is to show how quickly you can navigate between tabs and websites.

Zoom Around the Web with Keyboard Shortcuts is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.