The paper describes the latest development in seismocardiography and ballistocardiography, including sensors with or without mechanical contact with the body, for cardiac functions monitoring in common daily activity. We discuss the information related with the seismocardiogramn (SCG) and ballistocardiogram (BCG) and the work on SCG and BCG modeling. The latest advances reported on the devices aiming at BCG and SCG cardiovascular system evaluation are covered, highlighting their key features and novel concepts. We also underscore the applications of ElectroMechanical film (EMFi) sensors, MEMS accelerometers and radar sensing technology for vital signs monitoring. Discussion on the current developments and future improvements are included in the paper.