After five long years of waiting, HBO announced that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will be returning for a ninth season. 

The show's return was up in the air for years, and while we still don't know when the new season will premiere, we can rest comfortably with the fact that it's actually happening.

During this long hiatus, the stars have kept themselves busy. Here's what the cast of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" has been up to since the end of the show's eighth season:

Jeff Garlin plays Larry's manager, best friend, and partner in crime Jeff Greene.

Garlin stars on the acclaimed ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs." He also hosts a podcast called "By the Way" where he's had guests like J.J. Abrams, Amy Poehler, and even Larry David.

Cheryl Hines plays Larry's ex-wife Cheryl. She only appeared once in season eight, but maybe we'll hear from her again in season nine.

Some of the biggest tech companies today were originally founded in garages and dorm rooms across the country.

A new set of GIFs from the Cove, an office space sharing company, morphs the "then" pictures of tech companies' humble beginnings into their new headquarters of today.

Cove made the GIFs to remind their members many companies that started small have reached great success, explains Kat Haselkorn, a member of Cove's marketing team, to Tech Insider. 

"Even when you're starting small or working remotely there's so much you can do and you can really grow into a huge global brand," she explains.

Check out what some of the world's largest companies looked like when they started out below:

Amazon

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THEN: Jeff Bezos started the online book selling company in his garage outside of Seattle in 1995. 

NOW: Today, Amazon is the largest internet retailer in the country, with its headquarters in Seattle, Washington. 

Apple

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THEN: Three friends — Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne — started the company in 1976 in the garage of Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos.

NOW: Apple has grown to be one of the world's largest companies and has revolutionized personal technology. The company's Apple Campus is now based in Cupertino, California.

Facebook

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THEN: Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in 2004 out of his Harvard dorm room in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

NOW: Over one billion people now use Facebook. It's headquartered in Menlo Park California. Zuckerberg is still the CEO. 

DoubleLine CEO Jeff Gundlach delivered his latest presentation on markets and the economy on Wednesday.

Here were the main points:

• A summer sell-off is coming, and will be triggered in part by rhetoric around Donald Trump’s possible election win. It will be a buying opportunity. 
• Negative interest rates are not working and are having the opposite effect on currencies, stocks and the economies using them.
• Gundlach’s favorite recession indicator, and a few others, say there’s no cause for alarm right now.
• A "Leave" vote in the British referendum would have a ripple effect on the eurozone and mark the beginning of its end. 

He reiterated his call against higher rates, and again noted the disconnect between Federal Reserve expectations and where the bond market is. 

Here are highlights from the presentation:

SEE ALSO: Gundlach takes a hatchet to the Fed

Trillions of dollars worth of bonds worldwide have negative yields

The German 10-year yield has been in the news recently for falling to record lows. 

And, the proportion of global GDP governed by a central bank with negative rates is on the rise...

Gundlach does not like negative rates. At all. 

...but negative rates are not causing higher growth

"Hope springs eternal among economists, but you would think at some point they would capitulate" and not expect global growth to continue trending higher when it's in fact been falling, Gundlach said. 

The latest word on the street is that the iPhone 7 will come in a new "Deep Blue" color.

Apple will allegedly discontinue its "Space Gray" color in favor of the new blue shade, according to Japanese site Macotakara.

We're not totally sold on the idea of Apple killing a popular iPhone color and replacing it with blue, but this concept by designer Martin Hajek certainly has us intrigued:

SEE ALSO: 29 logos designed with a clever twist that's hidden in plain sight

The concept shows a dark blue iPhone 7 with no antenna lines along its back, a design change that's been rumored.

The concept also features a dual-lens camera, which reports have said Apple will add to the larger and more expensive iPhone 7 Plus.

You can read more about that rumor here.

We'll have to wait until this fall to see if the iPhone 7 comes in blue.

You can see more of these cool concepts on Martin Hajek's website.

Video games have evolved a lot over the years, from the goofy polygonal graphics in the first "Metal Gear Solid" to the hyperrealistic games shown off during E3 this week.

But realism isn't everything — some of the most beautiful games ever released on PlayStation came out 10+ years ago.

Here are the most beautiful PlayStation exclusive games ever made.

SEE ALSO: 29 logos designed with a clever twist that's hidden in plain sight

19. "The Unfinished Swan"

"The Unfinished Swan" is a stunning video game that blurs the lines between fine art and entertainment. You start in a completely blank environment — as you throw dark ink on your surroundings, you'll slowly reveal the details of the landscape that surrounds you.

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita

18. "Kingdom Hearts 2"

Though "Kingdom Hearts 2" isn't the most technically impressive game, Square Enix deserves major kudos for its ability to seamlessly blend "Final Fantasy" and Disney into one beautifully cohesive world.

Platforms: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3

17. "God of War III Remastered"

The "God of War" series its known for its brutal action and over-the-top boss battles that draw from the imagery of Greek legend. The dark and gritty art direction is beautiful, in that grotesque, Quentin Tarantino way. Though the whole series is beautiful, the most recent entry stands out as something truly incredible to look at. That is, until the new "God of War" just unveiled at E3 comes out.

Platform: PlayStation 4

NASA needs people who want to go to Mars.

And although the agency already received over 18,000 applications for its most recent class of astronauts, it's still recruiting for what is, frankly, a dream job.

On Tuesday, NASA released eight posters in a retro-propaganda style highlighting different roles that would be needed on the journey, such as farmers, surveyors, and teachers.

The funky and cool posters were originally designed for an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in 2009. But as part of NASA's recent publicity push for its Mars mission, it's made them available for download for free.

"Mars needs YOU! In the future, Mars will need all kinds of explorers, farmers, surveyors, teachers . . . but most of all YOU! Join us on the Journey to Mars as we explore with robots and send humans there one day," exclaims the website.

Currently, NASA is hoping to be able to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. But it's got competition: Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and electric-car maker Tesla, hopes to send humans to the red planet by 2026.

You can see all of the posters below, or if you'd like to print one up for your office, school, or home, NASA is also making huge TIF files available from its site.

Check them out:

SEE ALSO: NASA is about to light a trash fire in space

"Hike the solar system's largest canyon, Valles Marineris on Mars."

"If you lived on Mars' moon Phobos, you'd have an office with a view, mining for resources with Mars in the night sky."

"New ways of growing fresh food will be needed to keep brave explorers alive."

The official Vote Leave campaign has finally unveiled what it plans to do if Britons vote for the UK leaving the European Union — known as a Brexit.

In what Vote Leave calls its "roadmap," there are six new laws, including a stringent immigration control bill that would "end the automatic right of all EU citizens to enter the UK."

If the UK does vote to leave the EU on June 23, new laws will have to be enacted to make the referendum vote legally binding, as well as set the new direction of policy.

But momentum in the EU referendum debate is on the side of the Leave campaign at the moment.

On Monday, several opinion polls were published that all confirmed Remain's worst nightmare: There is a large probability of a so-called Brexit. 

An ICM poll conducted both over the phone and online indicated a 6-point lead for Leave (53% to 47%). And YouGov published an online poll of its own that gave Leave a commanding 7-point margin (46% to 39%).

While the Leave campaign sees more spending and tax cuts, UK Chancellor George Osborne said the opposite would happen in the event of a Brexit, leaving a £30 billion ($43 billion) budget hole.

Here is a rundown of the six laws the Leave campaign intends to enact by 2020 should Brits vote for a Brexit.

European Communities Act 1972 (Repeal) Bill

This is the key new law, severing the UK's ties with the treaties that make up the spine of the EU.

The Leave campaign said this law would end the European Court's jurisdiction over the UK and see the UK stop making contributions to the EU's budget. 

A special Finance Bill

The Leave campaign said this law would abolish the 5% rate of VAT on household energy bills – something it claimed would be paid for by savings from the UK's contributions to the EU.

European Union Law (Emergency Provisions) Bill

This would be the first law to be introduced and allows the government to remove EU citizens "whose presence is not conducive to the public good," according to the Leave campaign, by ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. 

For nearly 50 years, systematic racial suppression and segregation gripped South Africa. While the tides turned in the early '90s and laws were overturned, apartheid had already seeped into the country architecture. Roads, rivers, and fields functioned as "buffer zones" to separate people by race.

In 2016, photographer Johnny Miller set out to capture "the architecture of apartheid" from above. Separation gave the government the ability to reduce the black community's access to education, high-quality jobs, and city resources, leading to extreme divisions of wealth. Miller's drone pictures show the contrast as never seen before.

Miller shared some of his photos with us. You can check out more on his project website, Unequal Scenes.

SEE ALSO: Stunning photos reveal what childhood in North Korea is really like

Cape Town is a city like no other. "It's incredibly beautiful," Miller says, "and is the quintessential South African blend of first and third world."

Black people, sometimes referred to as "colored," have been disenfranchised in the country for hundreds of years. Starting in 1948, apartheid protected racism under the law.

Apartheid also brought about labels to differentiate between non-white people from different origins. Black people came from the Eastern Cape and spoke Xhosa, while mixed race people, called "colored," descended from slaves from Indonesia and Madagascar or were indigenous Khoisan people.

In the years following, black people were forcibly removed from their homes in rural areas and dropped into slums. The new developments were spaced apart to prevent black people from unifying under one nationalist organization.

High-stress jobs are the ones that are tied to performance, as in, if you don’t perform there are high-stakes, all-or-nothing consequences.

They include entrepreneurs, commission-based sales, stock traders, executives, professional athletes, entertainers, doctors, nurses, cops, firefighters and spec-ops warriors, to name a few.

In these high-stress arenas, mental toughness is what separates the lifetime achievers from the early burnouts.

Well-known examples of the mentally tough include Steve Jobs and Jack Welch in business, Harry Truman and Ronald Regan in politics, Colin Powell and Douglas MacArthur in the military, Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick in coaching and Serena Williams and Ronda Rousey in the field of sports. 

Being mentally tough means that you’re able to take control of your thoughts, feelings and attitudes under pressure.

It’s about being disciplined in how you think your thoughts, in how you deploy your emotions to drive past your worries, doubts, and fears. It’s clarity, focus, and confidence, and it comes from taking complete control of yourself. How? It’s actually simpler than it sounds.

SEE ALSO: There's a new competition on Wall Street

DON'T MISS: This is how firefighters overcome stress and anxiety

You're hired

Think of yourself as being "the CEO of You, Inc." Your job as the CEO of You is to get your board of directors to act in concert for your betterment instead of your detriment. Let me introduce you to your board of directors, you know them as your body, mind and emotions.

When you have a board meeting, which board member usually wins the vote? Have you ever made a decision based purely on your emotions during a time of stress?  Almost without fail, in 99% of the population, the emotions are running the boardroom, and the body runs a quick second. Mentally tough people, as the CEO of themselves, have their minds running the boardroom.

For the business executive, emotional decisions will bring sinus-clearing losses. For the athlete, emotional decisions bring on the humiliation of choking. For the spec-ops warrior, emotional decisions get you wounded, or worse.

The number one rule of becoming mentally tough is to stop making decisions based on emotion and instead, make them based on logic and reason.

First responder

What do we call police, firefighters and EMS personnel? First reactors or first responders? What if your house was on fire and the firefighters showed up and screamed, "Oh my goodness, that house in on fire!! Aaaaah, run!"

Most of us have lived our entire lives as first reactors instead of first responders. Have you ever made a 911 call or seen someone on TV make one? Does the 911 operator scream, "Oh my gosh! You’re in big trouble!"?  Of course not. They answer very calmly and with control they say, "911. What’s your emergency?"

They ask questions, gathering facts and information. Once gathered, they send that information on to the first responders, who formulate an actual plan of response, not reaction.

Half your brain

Neuroscientists have discovered through fMRI brain mapping and imaging that when a person is in fear, doubt or even worry (which is just baby fear), that half of the brain shuts down. The creative problem solving half of your brain goes completely dark.

No electro-chemical pathways lighting up, no neural net traffic, no genius creative problem solving ideas or thoughts generated. All you are left with is fight, flight or freeze. The part of your brain you need to get out of whatever problem you are facing is shut down. Mentally tough people have trained their whole brain to remain active and pointed towards finding a solution.

Five years ago, I moved to San Francsico — right as the current startup boom kicked off.

Those five years saw a lot of change in the city, as tensions between long-time San Francisco residents and the tech industry hit a fever pitch.

It all traces its roots back to the San Francisco Bay Area's housing crisis, where people are going to ridiculous lengths, including living in boats, vans, and cardboard boxes, just to make ends meet.

The thing is, San Francisco has been here before the tech industry was even a thing, and we'll be here again. And it's all because of some decisions made in the 1950s and 1960s.

SEE ALSO: I moved to San Francisco right when the startup craze began — here's what it's been like

San Francisco is the second-most dense city in the United States, after New York City, with about 18,451 people per square mile, packed into around 47 square miles.

That density, combined with the continued influx of people into San Francisco, has led to an epic housing crisis. In 2015, the median house price in SF was six times higher than the median price of existing homes in the US.

High home prices, plus high population density, plus low availability, has led to San Francisco becoming the most expensive place to rent in the country.

Raising a cat in New York City is no walk in the park. I have two. 

Aside from the struggle of finding a pet-friendly apartment to rent, there's the challenge of hauling food and litter home with no car. But the real test comes when I need to take one (or both) of my cats to the vet. Between getting them into a cat carrier, hailing a cab, possibly being rejected from said cab because of my animal accessories, and then panicking about my cat-child's emotional state, it really has become a chore I dread. 

That's why I jumped at the chance to use VetEasy— a house call veterinary service that offers general wellness visits and in-home vaccinations for Manhattan pet owners. 

SEE ALSO: This is why San Francisco's insane housing market has hit the crisis point

Meet Zelda. She is a literal creature of comfort, and the last thing I ever want to do is shove her into a cat carrier. Just look at that innocent face.

This is my second cat, Lily. Though Lily had a first round of vaccinations when she was a kitten, I had been a neglectful cat mother and failed to get her vaccinated again.

The time had come for me to finally get update vaccination shots for both cats.

Some products are so timeless, recognizable, and intuitive that it doesn't make any sense to try to improve them.

We reached out to designers to get their take on the world's most perfectly crafted products.

We spoke with Aaron Draplin, a logo designer who's known best for his Field Notes memo books and extensive logo work, and asked Bill Cowles, hardware designer at Electric Objects about the products he loves.

We also spoke with Peter Rohles, an industrial designer at the software company solidThinking, to get a sense of which products are beloved by designers and consumers alike.

While Rohles acknowledges the process of design is just that — a process — some everyday objects are so efficient at what they do that it'd be pointless to tinker any further.

Keep scrolling to see which products are probably the best they'll ever be.

SEE ALSO: Why there's no reason for most people to spend over $1,000 on a laptop

Levi's 501 Jeans — The original Levi's cut is roomy enough for any wearer to move around in comfortably. It was as good for a ranch hand over 100 years ago as it is for anyone today, Draplin says.

A memo book— "In a world of data, clicks and dinging bells that embarrassingly has us in its grips, a pencil and a blank page in a memo book is limitless," Draplin says.

A pocket t-shirt — "We hold things. And a t-shirt with a pocket on the chest? Perfection. Good for a wad of cash and an I.D. card, that iPhone you can’t put down or that memo book I was going on and on about," says Draplin.

Disney has officially celebrated the grand opening of its sixth and newest park, Shanghai Disneyland.

Tickets for the June 16 opening went on sale in March and sold out within hours.

With six themed areas — if you count Mickey Avenue — two hotels, a shopping hub called Disneytown, and a park called Wishing Star Park over 963 acres, Shanghai Disneyland is full of rides and attractions for the whole family.

Here's a look at what visitors can expect at the park:

Welcome to Shanghai Disneyland.

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This is Mickey Avenue, which serves as the park's entrance. It features numerous themed restaurants.

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Like Remy's Patisserie, a bakery inspired by "Ratatouille."

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Pizza was the first food to go online. The classic phone orders were replaced by fancy "watch as it cooks" widgets. Now Dominoes will automatically place your last order if you even open its app. 

Yet, pizza isn't the only delivery food, and there's companies warring over the rest of the market. 

Grubhub remains the largest incumbent in the space, but startups from Silicon Valley and heavyweights like Uber and Amazon are now entering the food space too. 

Morgan Stanley Research recently published a report that breaks down how big GrubHub's lead is on the rest of the competition — and where upstarts like Amazon and Uber could quickly catch up.

"Online food delivery is still in its nascency as, by our math, only 5% (or $10B) of the ~$210B core addressable restaurant spend is done through online delivery, and more than half of that is pizza," Morgan Stanley analysts noted.

Here's why so many big companies are salivating over the opportunity:

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

SEE ALSO: Uber just introduced a whole new way to take a ride

It's a competitive industry, but it's also still early. Some restaurants, like Pizza Hut, do their own delivery. For others, though, there's a competition about who delivers the food in the end.

Pizza's early lead for online means it still dominates ordering today, Morgan Stanley says. GrubHub's close behind it, but a lot of the Silicon Valley startups still lag behind. Amazon doesn't even crack into the top of the charts.

Put another way, GrubHub's 23% market share still dwarfs Uber's 0% or Postmates' 2%.

Imagine retiring to a high-rise apartment where a doorman greets you and a concierge arranges for tickets to the latest show along with complimentary transportation. Or perhaps you'd rather spend your retirement enjoying European river cruises or golfing at the best courses in the country.

See: How to Become a Millionaire by Retirement.

While these may seem like retirements reserved for the wealthy, these lifestyle options could be within reach for retirees with more modest means. The key is to identify retirement priorities and focus money there, financial experts say.

Freedom equals happiness

Steve Cordasco, owner of Cordasco Financial Network in Philadelphia, says many high net-worth people live relatively modest retirements. Since they often spend years living within their means to accumulate wealth, they continue to be restrained in their spending during the senior years.

High-wealth retirees may not necessarily be using their money to buy luxury yachts and gold-plated dishware, but their money does buy them something else: freedom. "Those who are happier in retirement [are those who] have more freedom," Cordasco says.

Having plenty of money in the bank ensures these people are able to do whatever they want, whether its spending their summers at a second home or taking the grandkids out for ice cream each week. Those with smaller nest eggs may not have as much money to play with, but they can still take their lead from rich retirees. "It's not how much money you have; it's your enjoyment of it," says Ken Moraif, founder and senior advisor at Dallas-based Money Matters.

Having plenty of money in the bank ensures these people are able to do whatever they want, whether its spending their summers at a second home or taking the grandkids out for ice cream each week. Those with smaller nest eggs may not have as much money to play with, but they can still take their lead from rich retirees. "It's not how much money you have; it's your enjoyment of it," says Ken Moraif, founder and senior advisor at Dallas-based Money Matters.

Travel is not only for the rich

Advisors say people are often surprised at what is affordable in retirement and what ends up costing significantly more than expected. Travel, for instance, is often considered a hobby for the rich, but there's no reason less-wealthy retirees can't also see the world. Moraif says seemingly luxury travel such as European river cruises can be just as easily pursued by someone with more modest means. "The wealthy person might be in a room with a living room and a library," he says. "You can do the same trip in a smaller room."

Both Moraif and Cordasco say they have helped clients find a way to fit their travel dreams into a reasonable budget. Cardasco worked with a retired utility lineman who wanted to live overseas with his wife in retirement. While Naples, Italy, was out of the budget, gated communities in Thailand and Puerto Rico offered the amenities and lifestyle they craved at an affordable price.

Meanwhile, Moraif's client dreamed of playing the best golf courses in each of the 50 states. To make that a reality, the couple sold their house and bought an RV to travel the country, using money from the house sale to fund their adventure. "They feel like they're having a very luxurious retirement," Moraif says.

While retirees may be surprised at how easily they can travel within their means, they may be shocked by the price of dining out. "It's what can kill a budget in retirement," Cordasco says. For those who want to live like they're rich, fine dining might need to take a backseat to free up money for other expenses.

[See: The 10 Most Visited National Parks.]

Consider the total cost

If travel is not a priority, many of today's retirement communities offer a luxury lifestyle closer to home. At The Clare in downtown Chicago, residents live in a 53-story building that comes complete with a full-service concierge, pool, wellness center and five on-site dining options. "The views they have are pretty spectacular too," says Kyle Exline, executive director of The Clare.

For access to this luxury living, residents must pay a steep entrance fee that starts at around $300,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. Monthly fees begin at $3,000 after that. If that sounds like a lot, Exline says it's not out of reach for current homeowners. He notes the sale of an existing home often gives residents enough cash to cover the entrance fee, and the monthly cost includes meals, transportation and, most importantly, long-term care.

"Where the value really kicks in is when someone needs an extra level of care," Exline says. As a life-plan community, The Clare offers on-site assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care for those who need additional services as they age. The care is guaranteed for life at roughly the same rate charged for independent living. That represents significant savings for seniors, especially considering that the annual cost of a private room in a nursing home runs an average of $92,378, according to a 2016 Genworth survey.

[See: 50 Affordable Places to Buy a Retirement Home in 2016.]

The summer vacation, while sometimes reserved for summer lovin' and fun in the sun, is also a prime time to earn some extra cash and learn valuable lessons about hard work and responsibility.

To find some of the best opportunities out there for college students, we asked FlexJobs, an online service specializing in telecommuting and remote work, to scour its site for some of the highest-paying summer and seasonal job listings.

"Pinpointing these types of high-paying, flexible summer jobs does require extra effort for job seekers, which is one of the reasons FlexJobs exists — to help cut down on the time and effort it takes to uncover these flexible positions," says Brie Reynolds, director of online content at FlexJobs. "But the great news is that, as these jobs show, it's possible to have a seasonal summer job that pays well and doesn't require a college degree."

The following jobs offer flexible work options with either part-time schedules and flexible hours, employee or freelance work, or remote or telecommuting options. None of them require a college degree, though many do require some previous experience, and each pays between $14 and $30 an hour, which is at least double the federal minimum wage:

SEE ALSO: The unglamorous summer jobs 21 successful people had before they made it big

DON'T MISS: 14 people shared the unglamorous summer jobs that forever changed their lives

Summer camp program coordinator

PayScale pay range: $9.94 — $30.64

Sample job description: Provide assistance to camp directory and coordinator with planning and organizing summer youth classes. Must adhere to guidelines. CPR certification and high school diploma or GED required. Some college preferred. Part-time position. 

Web content specialist/writer

PayScale pay range: $11.98 — $26.99

Sample job description: Perform research and create content relating to public relations for a website. Take photographs as needed. Writing/photography skills and work samples required. Part-time, temporary.

Temporary office manager

PayScale pay range: $11.66 — $23.54 per hour

Sample job description: Manage scheduling, oversee inventory, and ensure safety compliance. Computer proficiency and strong customer service skills required. Full-time, temporary position. 

iOS 10 is coming, and it's packed with a ton of new features.

Some are more useful than others, and some are more for fun than anything else, like most of the new Messages features.

These are the 10 best features we thought would make our experience with iPhone better.

SEE ALSO: Why Netflix CEO Reed Hastings doesn't have an office

1. You can finally take the iPhone's native apps off your home screen, like Mail, Safari, Maps, Stocks, and so on.

However, you unfortunately won't be able to fully uninstall them. 

2. The clock app is now dark, which means no more blinding brightness when adjusting your alarm at night or in the morning.

3. A new redesigned notifications shade that could actually be useful.

The notifications shade in previous versions of iOS is notoriously bad at showing notifications and hard to manage, but it looks like it could look a lot better in iOS 10. 

Imagine if you owned a 2,400-square-foot luxury home with the ability to fly you and 39 of your closest friends to anywhere you want in less than 17 hours. Next month, China's HNA Aviation Group will take delivery of a new Boeing 787-8 private jet. As configured, the 787 Boeing Business Jet, has a range of almost 9,800 miles even when packed with 40 passengers, luggage, and fuel.

With a flying time of about 17 hours, the plane can reach virtually any destination on earth, Kestrel Aviation Management CEO Stephen Vella told Business Insider. From start to finish, the aviation consulting firm, Kestrel Aviation, oversaw the creation of this 787.

Although several 787s have been converted from passenger service to private use, this is the first Dreamliner to be built specifically as a BBJ, Vella said. It is the 143rd Dreamliner to roll out of Boeing's factory and first flew in December 2013. The plane was delivered to Kestrel in January 2014.

Since no one had done a true Boeing 787 private jet before, Kestrel, along with partners Pierrejean Design Studios and Greenpoint Technologies, had to design and engineer the interior of the aircraft from scratch. In fact, the interior took a year to engineer as well as another year and a half to fabricate and install, Vella said.

The innovative Boeing 787 BBJ is not exactly cheap. The base Boeing 787-8 carries a list price of $224.6 million, while the modifications add another $100 million or so to the price tag.

Here's a closer look at the first Boeing 787-8 BBJ:

SEE ALSO: This 747 private jet makes Donald Trump's plane look tiny

For years, Boeing has offered its airliners for sale to private parties or governments under its BBJ program. That ranges from the massive 747-8 jumbo jet ...

... all the way down to the narrow-body 737. Now, the latest Boeing jet to get the BBJ treatment is the 787 Dreamliner.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner first flew in 2009, and the composite-body airliner is renowned for its range, comfort, and fuel efficiency. Unlike its passenger-ferrying compatriots, however, the BBJ version carries far fewer people but is packed with a ton more features.

For the first time in three years, the Minnesota Vikings will have a stadium to call their own as U.S. Bank Stadium is nearing completion and will be ready to use for the 2016 season.

After many years at the Metrodome, the Vikings spent the last two years playing at the home field of the University of Minnesota as they waited for the completion of their $1 billion domed stadium in downtown Minneapolis.

Now, three months before their first game in September, the stadium is nearing completion, and it looks amazing.

Here is a closer look:

The stadium has a translucent roof and a wall of windows that can be opened to give the fans a feeling of being outside while still being protected from the harsh winter elements.

From the outside, the stadium has the appearance of a modernized Viking ship.

The view as people approach the "bow" of the stadium.

A lot has happened since the first Olympic games were held in 776 B.C. For starters, men are no longer the only competitors, and the games are no longer held at the Greek site of Olympia. 

As the world prepares for this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio (Brazil is the first South American country to host the event), we at AFAR took a look back at the history of the Olympics—through 12 striking vintage posters. From outstanding athletes—such as “The Flying Housewife” and the barefoot marathon winner, Abebe Bikila—to boycotts and political upheaval, there’s a lot to learn from past Olympic games. 

1912

Stockholm, Sweden

The 1912 Olympics were the first competition to include women’s swimming and diving, and the last games to hand out solid gold medals. More than 2,406 athletes (including 47 women) from 28 nations competed. It was also the first time a country in Asia (Japan) participated. 

Photo by Jeffery Cross

1924

Paris, France

The 1924 games in Paris were the second Olympics hosted by France. The city out-bid Amsterdam, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Prague, and Rome for the host position. Finland’s long-distance runners put on such a show that they were nicknamed the “Flying Finns.”

Photo by Jeffery Cross

1928

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The 1928 games introduced a 16-day schedule, the official name of “Summer Olympics,” and the first endorsed sponsorships (Coca-Cola, surprise, surprise). Uruguay defeated Argentina in soccer for the gold medal, bringing some long-overdue attention to South American football. 

Photo by Jeffery Cross