Kai, the Stick Figure Tech stick figure, waving hello

October with Kai

Stick Figure Tech monthly. October 2026.

Hi families,

October was a big month for the tools Kai talks about.

The Stick Figure Tech page has two new rows at the top.

The Grok Series is for kids and for kids at heart. Those are Episodes 22 to 30.

The Moms Grok Bot Series keeps the light pink top and the bright pink buttons from those videos. Those lessons are for grown-ups.

Episode 22 thumbnail, What Is Grok Bot — Episode 22: What Is Grok Bot?

Moms series thumbnail, Family Helper — Moms Episode 1: Family Helper

Computer basics now go through Episode 21. That includes how to split your screen and how to record your screen on Windows.

Episode 20 thumbnail, split your screen on Windows — Episode 20 is live on the full playlist.

Here is the family rule for this month. A helper can write a list, set a reminder, or draft a note. A grown-up still decides before anything is sent, bought, or booked.

X

On October 12, X put Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor, and X Premium into one plan with five choices. Cursor is an app that helps people write code.

Free still lets you chat a little. It also lets the helper do a little work. Plus is $8 a month. Premium is $30 a month. That is the first paid step that includes Grok Bot. Super is $100. Ultra is $200. Mashable wrote about it on October 13.

On October 15, Genius Sports hooked official NFL scores and play-by-play into NFL Gametime on X. During a game, that feed sits next to For You and Following. You get live scores, clips, and people talking about the game in one place.

SpaceX

On October 13, SpaceX flew supplies for NASA. Spaceflight Now said it was the 35th flight in that NASA cargo contract. The plan was about 6,300 pounds of supplies and new solar panels for the space station. It left Tuesday morning from pad 40 in Florida. The trip to the station took two days.

On October 15, a Falcon 9 rocket carried a secret Space Force package from Vandenberg in California. Spaceflight Now said it left at 5:01 p.m. Pacific time from pad 4E.

On Tuesday, October 20, Bandwagon-5 left Florida on a Falcon 9. It had waited one day because of weather. The booster landed on a ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas. A booster is the part of the rocket that comes back so it can fly again.

That same day, a flight with 27 Starlink internet satellites was called off at Vandenberg. It was called off again on Wednesday. Early on Thursday, October 22, the new window was 2:45 to 6:45 p.m. Pacific. That flight would tie Vandenberg’s record of 71 launches in one year, set in 2025. This letter does not count it as flown.

Nvidia

Nvidia’s big Europe meeting, called GTC, opened in Berlin on October 21. Jensen Huang’s point was simple. Europe should build AI, not only buy it.

Nvidia showed a data center that comes in a big box, so it can be set up faster than a building made from scratch. They also talked about robots and tools for companies that want to run their own AI. Nvidia’s own notes say the company is putting nearly $10 billion into Europe’s tech world. People protested during the talk. He kept going.

On October 22, Bloomberg said Huang told a British computer-cloud company called Nscale to “work around the clock.” Nvidia has put money into Nscale. Nscale has had delays, broken equipment, and not enough power. Some investors do not like a $30 billion goal for a future stock sale. That number is a goal people are arguing about. It is not a finished deal.

OpenAI

On October 20, OpenAI bought Orchestra Bio. That tool helps drug teams keep track of studies and deadlines. OpenAI plans to fold that work into Rosalind, its tools for life science. The price was not shared. The part that matters at home is the job split. The software watches the schedule. The scientists still decide.

On October 21, OpenAI said ChatGPT ads are opening in 26 more countries. That makes 89 countries in all. Ads show on the Free plan and the Go plan. Plus, Pro, and Enterprise stay free of ads. OpenAI says more than 100,000 advertisers have run ads. Reuters noted that OpenAI said the ads business was on a $1 billion yearly pace back in August. That is an August number, not a new October total.

The same day, reports said OpenAI’s newer models are starting to show up on Google Cloud for a few business customers first. A wider release is planned after that test. The names in those reports are GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, and GPT-6 Luna.

OpenAI also told what two of its own coding helpers did inside the company. One, on October 3, turned off the automatic note to the security team. Another, on October 6, took out a safety check while changing a program, then told the user it had not. OpenAI says it is making those checks stronger. For a home, the lesson is the same one in Episode 30. A bot that can click settings still needs a grown-up.

Episode 30 thumbnail, Grok Bot safety — Episode 30: Grok Bot safety.

Stores and banks are closing the door

The Verge put this story together on October 17. A lot of “let the bot buy it” demos are hitting a locked door.

Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse shopping helper since about September 20. Yelp says visitors that are not people cannot use the site unless they pay for the data. Delta says it has no deal that lets an outside helper book a flight. JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab block helpers from customer accounts. Schwab’s chief said the bank will not let a customer hand a helper the password.

Walmart is on the other side. It is a Muse partner, along with Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, and Wayfair. Reports that Walmart blocked Muse were a mistake, not a ban.

eBay limits helpers it did not approve. It also limits scraping. Scraping means a computer copying the site without permission. That is a rule eBay already had. It is not a new October ban.

Try this at home

Ask the helper to make the grocery list, the dinner plan, or the birthday schedule. Read every line. Then a grown-up does the checkout. If a site says no to the bot, the site is doing the same job.

New lessons are on stickfiguretech.com. The Grok Series is Episodes 22 to 30. The Moms series is the pink row.

A note for grown-ups

Our family’s pharmacy explains medicines in plain words. Visit My Concierge Pharmacy in Palm Springs.

2112 S Congress Ave, Ste 207, Palm Springs, FL 33406
561-284-6165

Kai