There was a time, back in 1998 or so, when AOL was synonymous with email for most ordinary folks. That time, of course, is long past. But AOL's tireless flacks are trying to bring it back with a press release outlining which cities' residents are most addicted to email. Surprisingly, Washington, D.C. comes in first. But unsurprisingly, the release doesn't mention the reality AOL now faces: Today's email users, by the hundreds of millions, spurn AOL's offerings in favor of Yahoo Mail, Microsoft's Hotmail, and Google's Gmail.

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