Wireless sensors for sleep apnea, caloric intake: At a recent event in San Diego, The West Wireless Health Institute's Mehran Mehregany told attendees that soon smartphones like the iPhone or Google's Nexus One would record snoring to detect sleep apnea, use barcodes on food packages to track calories, and use inertial sensors to track activity and caloric expenditure. Philometron CEO Darrel Drinan demo'd two wireless sensors for attendees: One that detects atrial fibrillation and another that measures caloric intake and expenditure. More

CNN rounds up "tattle tale" medication reminder devices and services. More

Newsweek asked four leading cardiologists to weigh in on how best to combat heart disease: Dr. Eric Topol, Chief Medical Officer at the West Wireless Health Institute: "I think the point has been well made that there's been progress. But I think it's worth emphasizing that heart disease is still the leading cause of death and disability. Beyond the things that have already been cited, part of the problem is we're not able to characterize things very well for prevention. For example, [high] blood pressure, which is notoriously underdiagnosed and inadequately managed—we rely on spot blood-pressure checks rather than continuous assessment, which is now possible in the era of wireless medicine. That's something we can do a much better job on." More

Philips inks 3-year device deal with home health care company: Nashville, Tennessee-based SunCrest Healthcare, a regional provider of home health care provider has inked a deal with Philips remote monitoring "telehealth" devices. SunCrest plans to use the devices to remotely monitor patients with chronic disease, enabling patients, caregivers and nurses to monitor weight, blood pressure and other vitals. More

Five times the battery life for wireless cardiac monitoring? At an engineering event in San Francisco, Belgian research institute IMEC and the Holst Centre presented a device that -- according the researchers -- reduces the overall power consumption of an ambulatory heart activity signal monitoring system by more than five times. More

What if shopping for insurance plans was like shopping for a mobile phone plan? One Christian Science Monitor columnist seems to think insurance companies should adopt Verizon Wireless' customer service structures. More