My "start page" is an old school page of links I am interested in:
Anthony's Resource Links
I frequently add bookmarks to my web browser when I encounter pages that interest me. Periodically I'll sort through them, organizing the ones I want to keep to my links pages, and deleting the ones I don't want anymore. Obviously, my links page is aimed at my personal interests, but it wouldn't be too difficult to do something similar yourself (if you have any HTML experience).
As for reading news, I prefer to use my RSS newsreader for that (I use RSS Owl). I don't want news feeds getting in my way when I'm searching for something, researching a topic, etc.