Verizon customers reportedly got double bad news this week: the phone carrier is raising fees and removing loyalty discounts.

According to users on the Verizon subreddit, several customers reported receiving an email from Verizon informing them their account discounts are ending. "We are writing to let you know that a discount on your account will soon end," the email said, according a redditor. "This discount will be removed no sooner than September 1, 2025." Several other redditors chimed in on the thread, saying they had a received the same email about losing loyalty perks offered to longstanding customers. Mashable has reached out to Verizon for comment and will update this story with a response.

A few days earlier, Verizon confirmed to Tom's Guide that the company is increasing fees for activations, phone lines, and tablet plans by Sept. 1.

Verizon customers are understandably unhappy about the changes. Some commented that they might change phone carriers to T-Mobile or AT&T as a result. "They just keep finding ways to crap on loyal customers," commented one redditor, underscoring the general sentiment of the thread that loyal customers are being penalized for their loyalty.

According to Tom's Guide, Verizon is reportedly trying to persuade customers on older plans to switch to its newer myPlan subscription. "We want to ensure you get the best value and experience from Verizon and encourage you to check out our myPlan options for the plan that works best for you," the email to customers reportedly said.

Cutting loyalty discounts and upping fees is a bold way to do that, since it seems to be alienating customers even more.

Vicky

Over the weekend, xAI released an updated version of the Grok iOS app with a new tool called Grok Imagine, which lets users quickly create AI images and videos. On X, excited Grok users are eagerly sharing their creations, and xAI founder Elon Musk is retweeting user posts.

Grok Imagine is available now to Heavy and Premium+ subscribers on the Grok iOS app, and to Heavy users on the Android app.

Grok Imagine features generative AI with text-to-image capabilities as well as the ability to turn images into short video clips with sound. In this way, it's similar to the new Midjourney AI video tool. Rival AI companies have AI tools that allow users to generate original videos based solely on text prompts, such as Veo 3 from Google and Sora from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Musk praised Grok Imagine on X, calling it a "meme motherlode." He also teased the NSFW capabilities of the model and said Grok Imagine "should get better almost every day."

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Earlier this month, xAI released Grok 4, the company's latest and most intelligent model to date. In our previous testing, Grok lagged behind other popular AI image generators, particularly when it comes to preventing deepfakes.

How to try Grok Imagine

While Grok Imagine initially launched solely within the Grok iOS app, the DogeDesigner X account, which Musk often retweets, reported that it's now available on Android as of Monday for SuperGrok Heavy users.

Mashable tested Grok Imagine using the iOS app, and found it easy to start creating images and videos there.

After opening the Grok app, users should see two tabs at the top of the screen: "Ask" and "Imagine."

Tap on either the "Imagine" tab or the "Create Image" button and you will enter Grok Imagine.

Left:
The Grok iOS app.
Credit: xAI

Right:
Features AI-generated images.
Credit: xAI

How to create images with Grok Imagine:

1. Type in a text-to-image prompt, upload an image, or use the voice mode by tapping "Speak"

2. Grok will generate the image and some variations.

3. Keep scrolling to automatically generate additional images

4. Share or download the images

How to create videos with Grok Imagine:

1. Tap on an image and select "Make video"

2. Choose from the options: Custom, Spicy, Fun, Normal

3. Your video will automatically generate and appear on the app

How to turn images into video with Grok Imagine

1. At the bottom of the app, tap the photo icon with a plus sign

2. Upload an image from your phone

3. Your video will automatically generate and appear on the app

Mashable is still in the process of testing Grok Imagine for ourselves, but the initial results seem to be… fine. As with other Grok tools, Grok Imagine seems to be lacking in safeguards that are commonplace in the AI industry. We've reached out to xAI for comment.

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Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Vicky

Pro wrestling — especially WWE — has always thrived on shocking swerves to keep fans tuning in week after week. It's part Dragon Ball Z, part soap opera, and all spectacle. But based on the backlash erupting across social media, it seems there’s one swerve that isn’t sitting right with fans: the surprise return of Brock Lesnar.

Known to casual fans as the Beast Incarnate, Lesnar has spent the past year as persona non grata in the internet wrestling community. In Jan. 2024, just weeks before the Royal Rumble, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit alleging that then-CEO Vince McMahon coerced her into a sexual relationship and trafficked her to another executive and an "unnamed WWE wrestler." That wrestler was later identified as Lesnar. The lawsuit alleges McMahon offered sexual favors from Grant to Lesnar as a bargaining chip in ongoing contract negotiations.

In response, WWE quickly removed Lesnar from the Royal Rumble and scrapped plans for his WrestleMania XL match. He was also removed from the WWE 2K24 special edition cover and edited out of TV intro packages — effectively erased from the spotlight. It should be noted that at the time of this writing, although Lesnar was named 44 times in the suit, he is not a defendant in the case, nor has he been charged with any crime.

But now, it seems WWE is ready to move past the controversy — even if fans aren’t. At WWE's SummerSlam night two event, in what was billed as John Cena’s final SummerSlam match before retirement, Lesnar made a surprise return to confront him. While the pop from the crowd in attendance was thunderous, both fans and wrestlers online voiced frustration.

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Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE programming follows a string of controversial decisions by the company over the past week. The biggest of which was WWE abruptly announcing that press conferences with independent media would no longer take place. The timing raised eyebrows, as the announcement came shortly after top WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque appeared at the White House alongside President Trump for the signing of a new executive order to expand the Presidential Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Per Wrestling Observer Radio, journalist Dave Meltzer notes that WWE canceled the press conferences to avoid having to answer questions about Lesnar.

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Vicky