Techsupportalert also reports on their top 6 here, which include a few of the same.
Personally speaking, with the ability to use the built in Google Apps page and quite simply Google News I don't see any real advantage to any one website placing nothing more than shortcut/links being that beneficial but then that's just me. I think getting familiar with the Google Apps will make all the difference in your web browsing experience so if you want to learn a few things, check out the Google Apps Tutorial here.