In today’s Bulldog wrapup blog of tech and life science news:

  • IBM is cooking with Watson
  • Peak 10 deal update
  • NephroGenex launches drug trial
  • T-Mobile offers music service
  • BlackBerry joins Amazon

The details:

  • Chef Watson, I presume?

Silicon Valley-based Business Insider offers an interesting update about the foray of IBM’s Watson supercomputer into the world of recipes. Big Blue barbecue sauce?

IBM’s calling it “cognitive cooking,” based on advances being made by the machine that beat humanity’s best in Jeopardy. IBM is working with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. 

“We wanted to see how we could push the boundaries of cognitive computing and if computers could be creative. We created an application that allows users to create a new recipe that’s never been seen before and hopefully tastes good,” IBM engineer Florian Pinel told Business Insider. “We wanted to focus on food because it’s easy to gather data on and it’s something everyone cares about.”

Check out the full story online.

  • Peak 10 sale closes

CHARLOTTE – Private equity firm GI Partners has closed on its acquisition of Charlotte-based Peak 10.

The provider of IT services and “cloud computing” infrastructure operates data centers across the southeast, including in the Triangle.

Affiliates of Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets, and Jefferies are financing the deal.

 

  • NephroGenex launches nephropathy trial

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – RTP-based drug firm NephroGenex (Nasdaq: NRX) has launched a Phase 3 clinical trial of its proposed gtreatment for diabetic nephropathy. 

The drug – called Pyridorin – is designed to slow the progression of diabetic kidney disease. 

“With initiation of this study, NephroGenex is now in late stage development with a first-in-class compound that targets and scavenges pathogenic oxidative chemistries which are fundamental causative factors in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy,” said Pierre Legault, CEO of NephroGenex. “Of the 19 million people in the U.S. diagnosed with diabetes, about one third—or roughly 6 million people—exhibit signs and symptoms of kidney disease. Pyridorin is the leading drug candidate for diabetic nephropathy that targets an underlying cause of this disease.”

  • T-Mobile jumps into music streaming with ‘unRadio’

SEATTLE – T-Mobile is jumping into the music streaming game with a price and a package of features that set it apart.

At its “Un-carrier” event Wednesday, the fourth-ranked mobile carrier said customers of its Simple Choice plan will be able to stream music from popular services like Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, iHeartRadio, iTunes Radio and Slacker without it eating into their high-speed data caps.

It also unveiled a new service called unRadio that features streaming Internet radio without ads. The service provided by Rhapsody lets users skip tracks an unlimited number of times and download 25 songs to the device for playback after marking them as favorites when they come up randomly.

T-Mobile’s highest-tier customers will get unRadio for free. It’s $4 a month for other T-Mobile subscribers and $5 a month otherwise.

  • BlackBerry to make Amazon App store available

WATERLOO, Ontario — BlackBerry is adding the Amazon Appstore in the next update to its operating system this fall.

That will give users of the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system easy access to thousands more of the most popular Android apps and games.

The struggling smartphone maker has been criticized for the lack of applications available for its devices.

By adding the Amazon App store, BlackBerry said Wednesday that its app developer program can put more emphasis on business and productivity applications.