Within a matter of time many of my favorite internet applications seem to disappear or change dramatically (I’m not calling any names, Flickr). I’ve been trying out some alternatives and these are my favorites so far:

To be honest I don’t like uStart.org as much as iGoogle. But it was the only startpage I could find which has got a somewhat minimalistic look and a calculator function at the same time. The calculator comes in handy when I’m web-designing and I like to display my favorite links for easy access. Oh, as you can see it’s typical Spring weather over here in the Netherlands ;) They’ve got some nice themes and skins as well, although not as pretty as those from Google.

IMHO Feedly is the best feed reader hands down. Transferring your feeds from Google Reader or adding new websites is a breeze. The pretty interface -which you can adjust to your likings- makes reading the posts a nice experience. You can install a mini toolbar to share posts on social media or by e-mail from any website. Feedly offers apps for your phone or tablet, so I often read the latest new from my couch.

Another Google reader alternative worth mentioning is Bloglovin. This site also has got an option to import your Google Reader feeds. Just like Feedly it’s an easy way to read posts from blogs or other websites in one place. Bloglovin displays a picture, title and the first lines of a post, whereas in Feedly you get to read the whole post. You can also choose to receive new posts by email once a day or whenever your favorite blogs are updated. Feel free to follow kao-ani.com <- shameless plug ;)

Concerning Flickr, I’ve heard that 500px might be a nice alternative. But it means you would have to build a community again . So I think I’m just gonna sit back and wait to see if Flickr will adjust a few things, in the meantime I’ll use Instagram.

Blame the cold weather, but these days I feel hungry a lot . Here are some of the cutest lunches that made my stomach growl.

Mari Miyazawa is a Japanese bento Artist. She creates the cutest bento and has got a Youtube Channel where she shows how to do it yourself. Bento can be a little time consuming to make, but you can use leftovers from your dinner to save some time. Mari’s official website is E-obento.

These Sandwich Monsters -who aren’t scary at all- are made with regular ingredients like ham, cheese and lettuce. But you could also make vegetarian variants, the monsters can be found on Instagram and Tumblr.

This peekaboo bread might actually be too pretty to eat. It doesn’t look that hard to make and you can find the recipe at A Beautiful Mess.

I’ve created an alpaca couple and hope you like them They’ll probably also be featured on a desktop wallpaper, but I just couldn’t get it right today.
You can choose between two lock screen wallpapers and there’s one home screen with cloud shelves, where you can place 3×4 or 4×4 icons, depending on your iPhone.

Cute Alpaca Theme
Download: Home Screen  – iPhone 4 or iPhone 5 | Lock Screen Pink – iPhone 4 or iPhone 5 | Lock Screen White – iPhone 4 or iPhone 5

How to install:
1. Click on the desired download link, the picture of your choice will appear.
2. Tap and hold on the picture until a menu will pop up, then tap the “Save Image” button.
3. Tap on the Photos icon on your iPhone and find the directory where you saved the picture.
4. Tap the picture and click on the box with arrow icon on the bottom left of your screen. Click on the icon that says “Use as Wallpaper”, click the “Set” button and choose “Lock Screen” or “Home Screen”.
5. Enjoy your Alpaca theme!