I started my emailing life on AOL. Eventually, I switched to Hotmail and Yahoo. I've been using Gmail since it was first released. Over time, I've had to take my contacts with me by exporting and importing them again and again. Now, a new tool in Gmail has dropped the exporting part of the equation.Google added the feature for all new Gmail accounts and is slowly adding it to existing accounts. It's a simple tool, and can be used to import contacts from existing accounts such as AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo and others. You can still do it the old way, but this makes it easier. No exporting to a .CSV file first.

It can be enabled under the settings menu, under accounts and import. The full list of supported email services is a bit ridiculous, but that's a good thing. A partial list includes: Comcast, Cox, Earthlink, Juno, MSN, Netscape, NetZero, OptOnline, RoadRunner, Sprint, Verizon, WorldNet.

The one real bummer about this new feature is that it isn't available to businesses or educational institutions using Gmail.

If you're still anxious to retain older accounts for fear of missing what could be important emails, don't forget that you can retrieve emails from POP3 accounts or have them forwarded to a Gmail account.

Just another friendly move by the Google people to convince you that their product is better than others.