Despite the well-publicized release of several new mobile payment technologies, in a survey by Ogilvy & Mather, consumers made it clear that they do not trust tech companies with handling their money.

When five hundred US online users were asked who they do trust with their mobile payments and were allowed to pick any number of brands on a set list, big brands such as eBay, Google, Microsoft, and Apple were not at the top. Instead, consumers opted to use the same companies they are currently relying on for everyday transactions. This includes credit card companies such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express who 39.6, 35.6, and 35.8 percent of consumers trusted respectively in the survey.

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Mitek Systems, the developer behind depositing checks via camera phone, has created a similar technology for the healthcare setting.

Mitek now offers an API that allows smartphone app developers to utilize mobile imaging technology to automate processes that are otherwise paper-based. The process involves taking the information that is captured by a smartphone camera and transmitting it to the Mitek Mobil Imaging Cloud, which runs on the Amazon Cloud. A patented algorithm that reads print, handwriting, or script extracts data from the image, which then populates a form and is forwarded to the appropriate channel. If for some reason the image is rejected, the user is immediately informed of what the issue is.

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Today RunKeeper, a fitness integration application, announced that it has partnered with eight more health and fitness apps.

These applications have integrated with RunKeeper’s Health Graph API, which launched its alpha release in June 2011 and is currently still in its alpha phase.

Health Graph allows users to combine data from the RunKeeper app with other health and fitness apps. This organizes the user’s workout data, diet and sleep habits, and social interactions by displaying them in charts and graphs that can be shared with others.

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Rock Health published the Rock Report: State of Digital Health on Tuesday, August 2, 2011, which provided data demonstrating that investment in digital health is increasing dramatically.

In its report, Rock combined studies from Capital IQ, CrunchBase, NVCA, Dow Jones VentureSource, and its own survey of 110-early stage digital health entrepreneurs, which show the direct correlation between which developers are receiving venture capital (VC) and who their target consumer is.

The studies conducted by the outside groups showed that VC funding of healthcare technology has increased significantly in the last few years, including a considerable spike from the 2005 total of 52 healthcare technology deals to the 2010 total of 138.

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Health Canada’s Therapeutic Products Directorate, the authority that regulates pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices in Canada, approved the sale of the Bluetooth-powered MyGlucoHealth system on Thursday, July 28, 2011.

MyGlucoHealth, created by Entra Health Systems, functions as a glucose meter that transmits test results to the patient’s phone wirelessly via Bluetooth.

To expand on this function, the developers of MyGlucoHealth have also created the MyGlucoHealth Patient Analytics Portal. This system allows patients and health care professionals to access the test data from a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone, establishing direct communication between the caregiver and patient.

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The Center for Technology and Aging (CTA) awarded a combined total of $477,150 to five organizations in the form of one-year grants for implementing programs that exhibit the best ways to connect seniors living with chronic conditions to mHealth technologies.

One organization that received a grant was CalOptima. The funding was provided for CalOptina’s mHealth- and wireless-based program to delay or prevent the need for Medicare members with heart disease to move to more intensive care settings

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Sensei, Inc. is a healthcare company dedicated to creating “programs for health, wellness, and chronic illness that improve outcomes and reduce costs,” two goals that they hope to realize through the new Sensei Health Hub.

The Sensei Health Hub is a cloud-based system that integrates health information and services into one native application that users can easily access.

Sensei believes that this product will accomplish the company’s cost reduction goal by allowing health plans, employers, hospitals, and governmental agencies to decrease the amount of money invested in multi-channel health information distribution.

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