This is a GNOME 3.2 / 3.4 shell extensions that let users have good old applet-like notification area on the top bar and remove built-in status icon of your choice. Please see [https://github.com/brianhsu/EvilStatusIconForever] to know how to use it. After configure and enable this extension, you need restart GNOME 3.2 / 3.4 to make it work (Alt-F2, enter r).

Extension Homepage

http://github.com/brianhsu/EvilStatusIconForever