Steve Jobs art: fans, artists and designers pay tribute to the Apple co-founder Fans, artists and designers have found creative ways to pay tribute to Apple co-founder and former CEO, Steve Jobs, who has died at the age of 56 after a long and highly public battle with cancer. This digital mosaic, made out of Apple gadgets, was created by Greek designer Charis Tsevis. Click here to see an enlarged version of this image This idea of incorporating Steve Jobs' silhouette into the bite of the Apple logo, symbolising both Jobs' departure and lingering presence at the core of the company, was released by nineteen-year-old Jonathan Mak, a student at Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design. However, it has since emerged that an almost identical logo was designed by Chris Thornley for Creative Review earlier this year. Here's a portrait of Steve Jobs made out of parts of a Macbook Pro, issued by web design company Mint Digital. They say: "It seemed fitting to create a tribute to him using the spare components of the old Mac book pro. Every component has been broken down to its most basic form and reassembled into a portrait of Steve Jobs." Tom Gaffney, 21, carved a portrait of Steve Jobs into an apple, before laying his tribute outside the Apple store in Birmingham. Tom, from Burton, Staffordshire, worked into the early hours on his tribute. He said: "I'm a big fan of his work. He's a genius and an influence to so many people." Bluewater Productions and Paperless Publishing have decided to publish a comic book biography of Steve Jobs. It will be available as an e-book this week on the NOOK and Kindle. The 32-page issue is drawn by Chris Schmidt (with cover art supplied by DC artist Joe Phillips). The standard edition will be available in comic shops, bookstores and online retailers including Amazon from October 27. Here's another mosaic created by Charis Tsevis, using images of iPhones, MacBooks and iPods, as well as various types of Apple software. Click here to see an enlarged version of this image A restaurant worker shows off an apple-shaped pizza as a tribute to Steve Jobs in Naples A man displays a paper cut portrait of Steve Jobs in Jinan, Shandong province, China Fans have found ways of paying tribute to Steve Jobs outside Apple stores around the world. A man places an iPad displaying a picture of Steve Jobs around candles forming the logo of Apple, in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan province Many people have chosen to pay tribute in a simple, yet fitting, way - by leaving an apple with a bite taken out of it outside an Apple Store. These one were seen outside an Apple Store in London.

How Steve Jobs's biological mother doesn't know he is dead as care home nurses believe dementia sufferer is too ill to be told By Paul Bentley Last updated at 7:45 AM on 15th October 2011 His death was one of the most widely publicised in recent history, filling newspapers and television schedules for days as fans worldwide united in grief. Among the few people in the Western world, however, who will not have heard of Steve Jobs's passing, is perhaps the most important - his own mother. Joanne Simpson, who reluctantly gave her son up for adoption after falling pregnant when she was a student, is seriously unwell in a nursing home in Los Angeles and has no idea her son has died, MailOnline can reveal. Biological parents: Father John Jandali never met Jobs while it is thought mother Joanne Simpson does not know he has died Sources close to the family said the Apple founder's biological mother, Joanne Simpson, 79, is tragically battling advanced dementia. She has very limited mental capacity and is said barely to know who she is, let alone what has become of the son she gave away. Jobs was adopted in 1955 after being born to Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian man, and Joanne Schieble, who was a graduate student at the time. The couple were not married and keeping him would have been deemed shameful by their communities. Brought up by Paul and Clara Jobs, Steve is thought to have reconciled with his mother but never to have made contact with his biological father. Genius: The Apple founder completely revolutionised the way we communicate In his renowned 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, Jobs described how his mother signed the adoption papers reluctantly, wanting to give him away to a well-educated couple. Paul Jobs was a high-school drop-out who became a machinist and his wife Clara never graduated from college. Joanne Simpson eventually married Jandali and the couple had another child, Mona Simpson, who went on to become a famous novelist, before getting divorced. She later remarried. 'My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student,' Jobs said in his speech. Deteriorating: The Berkley East Convalescent Hospital in Los Angeles, where Steve Jobs's birth mother, who has dementia, is being looked after 'She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates.' When he grew up, Jobs found his mother and the two kept in touch. He also forged a relationship with his biological sister. Despite the reconciliation, Simpson's dementia is so serious she has no idea about her son's death. Her condition has so far deteriorated she is said briefly to have been admitted to a mental hospital after neighbours reported seeing her wandering the streets half naked. Frail: Jobs was photographed in August looking very unwell A source said: 'Steve was one of the richest men in the world, but his wealth couldn't save him and it couldn't save his mother. 'We used to find her wondering the streets wearing only a house coat with nothing underneath and sometimes we would find her wearing barely anything climbing trees in her bare feet. 'In the end someone dropped her at a mental hospital as they were so concerned for her wellbeing and then when her daughter found out they eventually moved her to a nursing home. 'She was a lovely woman so it was very hard to see her demise. Now she is locked in her own body and barely knows who she is let alone Steve anymore.' Jobs knew about his birth mother's mental condition and is said secretly to have helped her financially. 'They had reconnected in later life and it must have been so sad for Steve watching his mum lose her mind , knowing there was nothing he could do about it,' the source added. 'It was like a double heartache as there was nothing he could do about his condition either in the end. 'While we never saw him round her house before they moved her, what we do know is that her rent was paid for as if by magic every month. 'And now she is in one of the best care homes, so it doesn't take a fool to work out who is paying for it.'

[Steven Paul Jobs, the iconic co-founder, chairman and former CEO of Apple Inc., died on October 5 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old]

Special: The must-read Steve Jobs speech that will change your life

This is the "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish" address delivered by Steve Jobs in 2005 at Stanford University:

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal.;Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Bill Gates leads tributes to Steve Jobs Apple News By Chris Smith Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has released a statement paying tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who died on Wednesday. The former head of Microsoft said he was "truly saddened" to hear of Jobs' passing and saluted the "profound impact" he had on the world. "I'm truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' death," said a statement released through his spokesperson. "Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work. Opinion: Steve Jobs: 'insanely great' "Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives. "The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come." "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely." Microsoft and Apple have, of course, had a storied rivalry lasting over 30 years. Jobs and Gates had locked horns while the rival Macintosh and Windows platforms went head-to-head throughout the 80s and 90s, and right up until Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2008. Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen also released a statement calling Jobs a "unique pioneer and auteur." "He's done a fantastic job," Gates once said of Jobs' reign at Apple, adding, "Of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with, he showed more inspiration and he saved the company."

11. Ulysse Nardin's The Chairman " up to $49,500

The Chairman by Ulysse Nardin is the world's most expensive Android smartphone, and includes both a touch screen and a physical number pad. The Ulysse Nardin name is most often associated with luxury watches and that fact shows in the Chairman's sophisticated design. The volume controls look like watch buttons and the crown between them can actually be wound to generate power for the device. In fact, the phone features a kinetic rotor power system visible through the backplate.

10. Nokia 8800 Arte with pink diamonds - $134,000


Designed by Peter Aloisson, this solid 18k white gold phone features over 680 pink and white brilliant cut diamonds totaling over 21.5 carats. Some of the phone's features are a 3.15 MP camera with autofocus and video, a music player, Bluetooth and voice memo.
9. Peter Aloisson's iPhone Princess Plus - $176,400

The Princess Plus got its name from the Princess cut used on 138 of the 318 diamonds on its surface. The other 180 diamonds on the phone were brilliant-cut. In total, the phone has 17.75 carats of diamonds set in 18k white gold around its rim. The iPhone Princess Plus is worth $176,400 while the somewhat more pedestrian œBrilliants only version sold for $66,150.
8. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond " $300,000

The price of this phone comes from actual state of the art technology instead of a bunch of shiny rocks"but that doesn't mean it lacks visual appeal. OLED technology underneath the polycarbonate skin that covers the phones entire face gives the 4 megapixel screen a borderless look. The mirror finish gives the phone a sleek, futuristic look.
7. Vertu Signature Cobra - $310,000

This gaudy phone is so exclusive that only eight will ever be made. Designed by French jeweler Boucheron, the Signature Cobra is made with two diamonds, two emeralds and 439 rubies. For buyers who are only filthy rich, rather than obscenely rich, twenty-six of the less flashy (read: no rubies) Signature Python phones will be available for a mere $115,000. Both phones will feature the real draw"they have frikkin' snakes on them. Awesome.
6. Gresso Luxor Las Vegas Jackpot " $1 million

This ultra-exclusive phone, limited to only three units, truly lives up to its name. Not only is it extraordinarily expensive, but its Egypt-inspired design will look right at home in the hands of a Vegas high-roller. The phone features 45.5 carats of black diamonds decorating the bezel and a back panel made from 200-year-old African blackwood"the most expensive wood in the world. As if that weren't enough to ensure the Jackpot a place among the world's most expensive mobile phones, each key is cut from a hand-polished sapphire crystal. All of these luxurious materials are set in a 180-gram solid gold frame.
5. The Diamond Crypto Smartphone " $1.3 million

Created by luxury accessory producer Peter Aloisson of Moscow-based JSC Ancort, this luxury smartphone's price stems from the platinum body, the cover adorned with 50 diamonds"including eight that are rare blue diamonds. Additionally, the Ancort logo and the navigation key are made of 18k rose gold. Built on the Windows CE, this expensive cell also features a high-resolution color TFT display and a 256 bit cryptographic algorithm. This expensive mobile phone features SMS, MMS, E-mail and Internet capability, WAP, JAVA support and even a media player.
4. GoldVish ˜Le Million' Piece Unique - $1.3 million

Guinness World Records certified GoldVish SA's ˜Le Million' Piece Unique on January 29th, 2008. The Geneva-based luxury communications company's expensive mobile phone was designed by Emmanuel Gueit as an addition to the Illusion Collection. The phone is made of 18k white gold and set with 20 carats of VVS1 (only microscopically flawed) diamonds. The phone also features Bluetooth, 2 GB of storage, FM radio, a digital camera and MP3 playback. This expensive cell phone is available only by special order.
3. Peter Aloisson's Kings Button iPhone - $2.4 million

The Kings Button iPhone is, surprisingly, a jewel-bedecked iPhone. This time, however, Aloisson had the iPhone 3G to play with"and, apparently, a bit of a bigger budget. One hundred and thirty-eight brilliant-cut diamonds line the sides of the phone, but the real prize is the home button"a rare 6.6 carat white diamond.
2. Goldstriker iPhone 3GS Supreme " $3.2 million

Stuart Hughes of Goldstriker International is known for giving luxury devices such as phones and video game consoles the œSupreme treatment"covering them with gold and diamonds"and the iPhone is no exception. The iPhone 3GS Supreme features a casing made from 271 grams of solid 22k gold and a screen trimmed with fifty-three 1-carat diamonds. The home button is covered with a single rare 7.1-carat diamond. That's not all, though"the iPhone 3GS Supreme comes in a chest carved from a single block of granite and sports Kashmir gold and an interior lining made with Nubuck top grain leather.
1. Stuart Hughes iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition " $8 million

If you thought his iPhone 3GS Supreme was impressive, check out the latest iPhone from Stuart Hughes"the iPhone 4 Diamond Rose Edition. Hughes has recreated the infamous antenna band that wraps around the sides of the latest iPhone, as well as the backplate, using rose gold. The band is adorned with 100 carats of flawless diamonds, and the Apple logo is formed with fifty-three more diamonds. Once again, the home button gets the most love"it's made of platinum and features a rare 7.4-carat pink diamond.
The phone comes in an imperial pink 7-kilogram chest cut from a single block of granite and lined with nubuck top-grain leather. It also comes with an 8-carat flawless diamond that can be used in place of the pink one.

Based in New Delhi for Getty Images, photographer Daniel Berehulak writes for LightBox about his photo essay documenting the working life of miners in the Jaintia Hills. I traveled to India's far northeast last month, before the monsoon rains set in and rendered the mines unworkable for the summer. In the Jaintia Hills, in the remote state of Meghalaya, miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders.  Men, women, even children squeeze into 'rat hole' tunnels lacing thousands of privately-owned and unregulated mines.  There, they toil to extract coal by hand with primitive tools and no safety equipment. I was unsure of what the story would hold or the conditions I would face. I spent a week there, though two days were lost to arguing with 'guides' who, we believe, were hired by the mine owners to keep us from reporting.  We eventually got underground to witness what miners were enduring to scratch out such a sad and meager existence. As I was shooting an image of miners being lifted out from a shaft, about 300-feet deep, I wondered what I would do if the cable were to break and come crashing down. That is how four miners had died only weeks earlier.  Where could I hide?  Narrow shafts do not offer many escape routes beyond a few 'rat hole tunnels' that are two or three feet high. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Prabhat Sinha, from Assam, carries a load of coal weighing 60kg's, supported by a head-strap, as he ascends the staircase of a coal mine near the village of Khliehriat, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders. Children and adults squeeze into rat hole like tunnels in thousands of privately owned and unregulated mines, extracting coal with their hands or primitive tools and no safety equipment. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Workers load coal onto trucks at a mine in the Jaintia hills, located in India's far North East state of Meghalaya. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Fourteen-year-old Chhai Lyngdoh, kicks out the coal from a container, as it is emptied onto a heap, after being craned out of a 300ft deep mine shaft. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Workers load coal onto a truck at a coal depot. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images 20 year old Anil Basnet pushes a coal cart, as he and a fellow worker pull coal out from the rat hole tunnel 300 ft below the surface. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images 22 year old Shyam Rai from Nepal pauses as he works, digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images A crane lifts miners out of a 300ft deep mine shaft, as they head out for their lunch break. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images A miner unloads tools after being hoisted from the depths of a coal mine. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Coal miners wash themselves off as they break for lunch at a coal mine. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images A crane lifts miners out of the 300ft deep shaft of a coal mine. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images 12 year old Abdul Kayum from Assam pauses for a portrait, whilst working at a coal depot carrying coal to be crushed Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images Workers load coal onto trucks at a coal depot. After traversing treacherous mountain roads, the coal is delivered to neighbouring Bangladesh and to Assam from where it is distributed all over India, to be used primarily for power generation and as a source of fuel in cement plants. Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images An umbrella lays discarded on a heap of coal.

 

1. Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, better known as the Stealth Bomber, can launch conventional and nuclear weapons against the most heavily protected enemy lines on earth thanks to its ability to evade radar detection. Originally, it was supposed to be manufactured in a run of 132, but it was so expensive that the initial 1987 order was slashed to 21. The cost of the B-2 program in 1997 was $737 million, or just over $1 billion today. Combined with procurement costs, the B-2 Spirit costs over $2 billion. The craft was first used during the Kosovo War in 1999, and it has been used successfully in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. They have also been used during the 2011 Libyan uprising, according to the BBC. No other country on earth has a larger defense budget than the United States. According to the Department of Defense, its base budget for fiscal year 2010 is over $500 billion, with another $130 billion to bolster the War on Terrorism and another $33 billion in supplemental spending on top of that. And that's not to mention Homeland Security or nuclear arsenal maintenance. A lot of this money is spent on aircraft, tanks and ships, all of which are top – of – line and represent the furthest advances in military technology. In other words, they cost a lot of money. 2. Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey The Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is a versatile aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities similar to those of a helicopter. However, it's much faster than any existing chopper and it can fly at speeds as high as those of conventional turboprop airplanes. It was first used for combat in 2007 in Iraq, and the Marine Corps intends to use them in Afghanistan by late 2011. Unfortunately, the Osprey was plagued by a series of accidents during its design and testing phase between 1991 and 2000, and during that period the aircraft was involved in multiple accidents that caused thirty fatalities. Since 2008, the Osprey program has cost $27 billion, and as of 2010, each unit has cost $67 million. 3. USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) Named for World War II veteran and former President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is the final Nimitz supercarrier to be produced for the US Navy. It was commissioned in 2001 and built by Northrop Grumman for a cost of $6.2 billion. The carrier was completed in 2009, and is docked in Virginia. At almost 1,100 feet in length, it's one of the longest warships in the world. Its top speed is over 30 knots, which it reaches with the help of two onboard nuclear reactors. This power source is capable of keeping the ship running for more than twenty years without once having to refuel. 4. Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The F-35 Lightning II was developed as part of a joint program between the US, the UK and other allies known as the Joint Strike Fighter program. It was developed for use in air, ground and reconnaissance missions, it has a wingspan of 35 feet and a length of over 51 feet. Its internal fuel capacity is over 18,000 pounds and it can reach speeds of 1,200 miles per hour. The F-35 Lightning II is armed with a 4-barreled Gatling cannon and eight types of missiles, and if all else fails, it also has a B61 nuclear bomb. The cost for one aircraft is $122 million. The US plans to purchase over 2,000 units, at a cost of $323 billion. When this deal was cut in 2001, it made Lockheed Martin the recipient of the largest military contract in history. 5. McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet The F/A-18 Hornet was introduced by McDonnell Douglas and is manufactured by Boeing, who acquired the company in 1997. After making it maiden voyage in 1978, it was introduced in 1983 and since then, it has been used in a variety of capacities. It was used in Operation Desert Storm, and it's the featured aircraft of the Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron. However, its primary functions are reconnaissance and air support. The Hornet can reach a maximum speed of 1190 miles per hour, and it can climb up to 50,000 feet in a minute. Outside of the US, the fighter is used by the armed forces of such countries as Australia, Canada and Switzerland, and it has appeared in the 1996 science fiction film Independence Day as the aircraft used to defeat the alien menace. A 2006 report by the US Navy estimated that the cost of one unit is $57 million. 6. Boeing EA-18G Growler The Boeing EA-18G Growler is a carrier-based fighter used for electronic warfare. It can disrupt radar and jam an enemy communication system with electromagnetic radiation and directed-energy weapons. Because of its use as an electronic warfare fighter, it carries no guns, although it carries missiles for self-defense. The Growler is a modified version of the F/A-18F Super Hornet, and it's relatively new; it went into production in 2007 and only began operating in September 2009. The aircraft has a wingspan of over 44 feet and a length of over 60 feet. According to the US Navy, it costs $67 million to manufacture a single unit. 7. Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle had its fifteen minutes of fame when 2008 presidential candidate John McCain cited the amphibious assault vehicle as the basis for a costly program that was wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. Developed for the US Marine Corps, it is deployed at sea and transports a full marine rifle squad to shore, then operates on land with the full capabilities of a tank. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is manufactured by General Dynamics, and the cost for each unit is over $22 million. To date, the program, which is expected to be complete in 2015, has a project cost of $15 billion, $3 billion of which has already been spent. The Bowles-Simpson Commission has recommended that the program be cancelled, and Secretary of Defense Gates said in January 2011 that he believes the program should end. 8. Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye The E-2 Hawkeye is an airborne early warning aircraft that dates back to the 1960s. It has been upgraded to the E-2B and E-2C models when advances were made to its radar and communications capabilities, but the most recent model, the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, is the most sophisticated yet. It features a new radar system that triples the craft's ability to monitor territory. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which took its first flight in 2007, costs $232 million to produce. It features a brand new avionics suite, complete with satellite communications capability, and the capability for midair refueling. According to Northrup Grumman, the aircraft began delivery to the US Navy in 2010. 9. Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The C17A Globemaster III is a military transport aircraft in operation since 1993. The plane, which can drop over 100 paratroopers into a war zone at one time, has been used to move troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, and has also been used to deliver humanitarian aid and perform medical evacuations. The price for one unit is $191 million. McDonnell Douglas developed it during the 1980s for strategic and tactical airlift, and it's used by the militaries of the U . K . and Canada, as well as by NATO. Both the United Arab Emirates and India are planning to use the aircraft as well. 10. Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor According to its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, the F-22 Raptor is the best combat aircraft on earth. While this might seem tantamount to saying your son is brilliant, one look at the aircraft's capabilities actually bears out the manufacturer's statement. It can break the sound barrier, it can avoid detection by radar and it can shoot down cruise missiles. Unfortunately, an Air Force budget document estimated that one unit costs $150 million, with an overall program cost of $65 billion. The high price inspired the Defense Department to call for the program's end in 2009. The Senate voted to end it in July of that year, and when the military policy bill was signed into law three months later, funding for further production of the F-22 had been cut.