Apple new HealthKit technology is getting its own examinations at some top hospitals to see if it can successfully monitor patients remotely and thus help trim medical costs.

Among 23 of the leading hospitals questioned by Reuters, 14 have launched a pilot program of HealthKit or are in discussions to do so, Reuters reported on Thursday. The goal of the program is to see if doctors can monitor patients with chronic ailments such as diabetes and hypertension looking for early signs of medical problems so they can step in before a problem becomes more serious.

Apple is taking another shot at helping us manage all of the heaps of selfies and vacation snaps scattered across many iDevices.

This spring, Apple plans to replace its 13-year-old iPhoto with a new application for Mac desktops and laptops called, simply, Photos. It looks and works much like the streamlined Photos app already on the latest iPhones and iPads, and is designed to make Apple’s subscription iCloud storage more relevant in our lives.

Apple has been vowing to fix the broken TV user experience for years and there are new signs that it is getting closer to fulfilling that promise. Re/code‘s Peter Kafka reported yesterday that “Apple is in talks with TV programmers about deals that would allow Apple to offer an ‘over the top’ pay-TV service, like the one Dish has started selling with its Sling TV product, and the one Sony is getting ready to launch.” The crucial difference now, Kafka points out, is that the Dish and Sony offerings put Apple in the position to improve on existing products.

Samsung may be one of its biggest competitors, but Apple is again turning to the South Korean company to get chips made for the iPhone, according to a report.

Samsung will make Apple's next chip, which will likely be called the A9, in its newest factories running on the 14-nanometer manufacturing process, according to a news report in Re/code, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Apple has introduced iTunes 12.1, bringing a handy Notifications Center widget and some slight additional improvements to the software.

Apple has announced that it is to convert failed sapphire plant into a data center. Apple leased the plant located in Mesa, Arizona, to GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) with the expectation that it would produce scratch and impact resistant sapphire displays for the iPhone 6. However, the company failed to produce displays of satisfactory quality and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2014.

Bankruptcy documents revealed that GTAT management considered the deal with Apple "onerous and massively one-sided."

Move over Microsoft. Apple can claim big, big market share numbers, too. According to NPD, in June, nine out of 10 dollars spent on computers costing $1,000 or more went to Apple. Mac revenue market share in the "premium" price segment was 91 percent, up from 88 percent in May. By the way, Apple's command of the premium market is way up from first quarter 2008, when, according to NPD, Mac revenue share was 66 percent. Gee, and it seemed so high when I broke that story.