And in all that time, how many Gmail messages, contacts, calendar events, YouTube videos, and more have you saved, sent, uploaded and otherwise stored on its servers? My brain hurts just thinking about it.

Want to pack all your personal Google data into a big digital suitcase? No problem.

Well, here’s the thing: not only can you find out how much personal data you’ve got sitting in Google’s memory banks, you can also download a giant digital suitcase of all your Google stuff, which you can peruse and store on your own hard drive.

Downloading an archive is a smart way to safeguard your Google data against server failures, bolts of lightning, and other random acts of God.

It’s also a prudent move if you ever decide to part ways with Google and delete your account.

Related: How to download all your Facebook posts, photos and videos to your PC

Best of all, packing up a Google archive is quick and relatively painless. I archived and downloaded a 1.3 GB file stuffed with more than a dozen years of data in about 45 minutes.

Note: One big piece of the Google archive puzzle that’s still missing is Gmail, but Google says Gmail archives are coming within the next month or so. Stay tuned.

You can pick and choose which bits of personal data you want packed into your Google archive.

Let’s get started…

• Log into your Google account, click your Google profile photo in the top-right corner of the page, then click Account.
• Click “Download your data” in the left column of the following page (under the Account heading), then click the blue “Create an archive” button.
• Next, you can pick and choose what to pack into your Google archive—anything from calendar events and contacts to YouTube videos and the contents of your Google Drive. You can also just go ahead and pack everything by checking the “Select all” box at the top.
• All set? Click the red “Create Archive” button. A progress bar will appear, showing you how far along Google is in the archiving process (which took less than 15 minutes for me). Got better things to do? You can ask Google to let you know when it’s done by checking the box next to “Email me when the archive is ready.”
• Once the archive is finished, click the blue Download button to save your Google data to your desktop. (It took me about half an hour to save my 1.3 GB Google archive to my system.)
• Open the archive, and you’ll find all your Google data neatly divided into a series of folders. If there were any errors in the packing process, they’ll be listed in a file called “errors.html”; just double-click the file to open it in your web browser.
• Note that Google will store your archive online for a week; after that, it’ll be deleted automatically. You can also delete the online archive manually by clicking the “Delete archive” link.

Looking for more Google tips? Click here!

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String enough videos together, though, and you’ll have a crackling, YouTube-powered fireplace glowing all morning.

The trick: creating a video playlist, perfect for taking an all-day tour of your favorite YouTube Yule logs—the more, the merrier.

Here’s how to do it…

• • First, you’ll need a free YouTube account. Creating one takes just a few seconds, or you can log in to YouTube using your Google or Gmail profile.
  • Next, start searching for Yule log videos. You can refine and sort your results by clicking the “Filters” menu just beneath the search box.
  • Find a Yule log that suits your fancy? Click the “Add to” tab just beneath the video player (make sure to click through to the video itself from the search results page). A new “Add to playlist” section will appear, complete with a gray box containing the playlists (if any) that you’ve created in the past.
  • Beneath the gray box, you’ll see a form labeled “Enter new playlist name.” Go ahead and make up a name (like “My favorite YouTube Yule logs”), select a privacy setting (Public or Private), then click the “Create playlist” button.

Just click your Yule log playlist in the gray box to add more videos.

• Now repeat the process as you find more Yule log videos—except instead of creating a new playlist for each one, look in the gray “Add to playlist” box and click the Yule log playlist you just created.
• Want to see the results? Click the “Guide” button in the top-left corner of the page, just beneath the YouTube logo, then click the “Playlists” (or “Playlist updated”) link.
• You should now see a list of all the playlists you’ve created. Click the link for your new Yule log playlist, and it should begin playing automatically, one Yule log after another.
• Want to change the order of your YouTube Yule logs, change the name of your playlist, or make it public? Click the Guide button (top-left corner of the page) again, click Playlists, and click the Manage button (beneath and to the right of the search box). Finally, click the Edit button next to your Yule log playlist.

So, want to see a Yule log video playlist created by yours truly? Click here to view it on YouTube, or just check out the video player below:

[youlist pid=”PLVpVCxmbeSFyX2lSr-MH8l7Ue253Gq4_7″ width=600]

Bonus tip

You can view your Yule log playlist on your Android phone, iPhone or iPad from Google’s YouTube mobile app.

Just log into your Google account, tap your name in the left column of the interface (on iPhones and smaller Android phones, you may have to tap the top-left menu button first to reveal the column of options), then tap Playlists.

Oh, one more thing…

Happy holidays, everyone!

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Hi Jodi! Nope, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you.

With iOS 6, the latest version of the core mobile software for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, Apple tossed the old, familiar YouTube app into the rubbish bin.

Why, you ask? Chalk it up to another skirmish in the ongoing turf war between Apple and Google, who have grown to be fierce competitors in the booming smartphone market.

(Incidentally, the clash between Apple and Google was also behind Apple’s now-infamous decision to replace Google Maps on the iPhone and iPad with its own spotty, glitchy mapping service.)

So, what are we supposed to do now that the old YouTube app for iOS is gone?

One solution is to download Google’s sleek new YouTube app from the App Store. The Google YouTube app neatly replicates most of the functions of the Apple mobile YouTube app, complete with the ability to search for videos and log into your YouTube account.

You can also browse a “home feed” of recent and recommended videos, filter your video searches by date or length, and more. All in all, very nice.

You can still access YouTube from your iPad, with a little help from the Safari web browser.

The only problem with Google’s YouTube app, though, is that it hasn’t been optimized for the iPad.

Update [12/5/12]: Good news—Google just released a new version of iPad for iOS that is optimized for iPad.

Of course, you can still use the new YouTube app on your iPad, but when you launch it, it’ll look like a tiny iPhone app swimming in your jumbo iPad screen.

Now what?

Well, here’s the thing: there’s also a mobile web version of YouTube (just as there is for Google Maps), and it looks pretty slick on the iPad’s Safari web browser.

You can do pretty much everything on the YouTube mobile site that you can on the new YouTube app for iPhone, including signing in to your YouTube account, creating “playlsits” of videos, and managing your YouTube channel subscriptions.

Just type “youtube.com” into the Safari address bar on your iPad to access the YouTube mobile site.

You can add a YouTube shortcut to your iPad’s home screen by tapping the “Share” button in Safari.

You can also add a shortcut to the mobile version of YouTube to your iPad’s home screen.

Here’s how:

• First, visit “youtube.com” on the iPad’s Safari browser. (The web address will automatically switch to “m.youtube.com,” which is the official URL for the mobile web version of YouTube.)
• Tap the Safari “Share” button; it looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it, and you’ll find it sitting just to the left of the web address bar.
• A pop-up will appear with a variety of sharing options; tap the one marked “Add to Home Screen.”
• Next, you’ll get a preview of new home-screen icon, plus the chance to rename the icon if you wish.
• Everything look good? If so, tap the blue “Add” button. When you do, you’ll jump back to your iPad’s home screen, where you’ll see your new YouTube icon waiting for you.

Hope that helps, Jodi. Still have questions? Let me know!

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1. Clear your viewing & search history

Just like Google keeps track of your searches (unless you tell it not to), YouTube saves a history of each video you’ve watched and every search query you enter. That’s why the “Recommended” section on the YouTube home page will turn into a parade of “American Idol” videos if you watch too many William Hung clips.

To clear both your viewing and search history—or to stop YouTube from saving a history of your activity—just…

• Click the button marked with your username in the top-right corner of the page, then select Video Manager.
• On the next page, click the Search History tab in the left column.
• Check the box of the search queries you’d like to delete, then click the “Remove” button, or just click “Clear all search history.” And to keep YouTube from tracking your searches, click the “Pause search history” button.
• Next, click the “History” tab in the left column, then follow the same procedure: either check the box next to a specific video and click “Remove,” or select “Clear all viewing history” and/or “Pause viewing history.”

2. Create a custom YouTube playlist

There’s something to be said about browsing around YouTube and clicking “play” on one video after another; on the other hand, there are probably times when you want to queue up some interesting-looking videos, press “play” just once, then sit back and watch ’em all in one uninterrupted sitting.

All you have to do is start adding YouTube videos to one of your playlists, which you can access by clicking your YouTube user name in the top-right corner of the page; do so, and a module will appear with thumbnails for your various playlists.

Got a custom playlist? Just click "Play all," then sit back and watch.

The first four playlists—Favorites (for your favorite videos, natch), Watch Later (for clips you want to bookmark for later viewing), Likes (for videos that you gave a “thumbs up” to), and History—are automatically generated by YouTube, but you can also create your own custom playlists.

To add a video to a playlist from the YouTube home page or a list of search results, just hover your mouse over its thumbnail until you see a little “+” button; click the button, then select a playlist to add the video to, or select “Add to new playlist.” (Don’t forget to choose a privacy option—”Public” or “Private”—before creating your new playlist.) You can also click the “Add to” button beneath the video on its YouTube page.

To start watching the videos in one of your playlists, click your YouTube user name in the top-right corner of the screen, hover your mouse over the thumbnails that appear, and click “Play all.”

Once your first video starts playing, you’ll see a row of playback controls appear in the bottom of your browser; from there, you can skip to the next videos, shuffle your clips, or set them to repeat.

3. Always play full-screen YouTube videos in HD

If you’ve got a fast Internet connection and a powerful-enough PC or Mac, you can watch YouTube videos in high definition (either 720p or full-on 1080p, depending on the quality of the uploaded video clip)—and if you like, you can set YouTube to automatically tee up the HD version of a given video whenever you switch to full-screen mode.

To do so, just…

• Click your user name in the top-right corner of the screen, then select Settings.
• In the column on the left, click the Playback Setup tab.
• Under “Video Playback Quality,” select “Always choose the best option for me based on my player size” and check the box next to “Always play HD when switching to fullscreen.”

4. Upload videos from your phone via email

Do you have a phone with a video recorder, and can you send email from your phone? If you, you can zap your mobile video clips directly to YouTube, no app required.

• Click your YouTube user name in the top-right corner of the page, select Settings, then click “Mobile Setup” in the left column.
• On the next page, you’ll see a big, blue email address, something like “[email protected]” Copy and paste that address into your phone’s address book, and name it something like “YouTube upload.”
• The next time you want to share a mobile video instantly, just attach the video you just shot to an email, choose your YouTube address from your contact book, and hit “send.” Within moments, you should receive a confirmation email from YouTube.
• Keep in mind that videos you upload via email are marked as “public” by default, so careful what you upload. To hide a mobile video from the world, view the clip on the YouTube website, click the “Edit info” button, then click the Settings tab, and choose “Private” under the Privacy heading.

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Read on for five of my favorites, from the original WPIX Yule log to one with its own audio commentary.

2 Hour Yule Log!

Length: One hour, 49 minutes
Video quality: 480p
Annoying ads or captions? A few at the beginning, but you can click them off
What you’ll hear: Some nice crackles and pops
Overall: The logs in this fireplace look more like the ones you’d find in a big-city deli than out in the wilderness. That said, the no-nonsense, rock-solid camera work is priceless—and hey, we’re talking nearly two hours of yule log action here. (There’s also a one-hour, 1080p HD version available.)

Yule Log (Director’s Commentary)

Length: 1 minute, 48 seconds
Video quality: 240p, kinda muddy-looking
Annoying ads or captions: Just a title card at the beginning
What you’ll hear: A spot-on parody of those self-serious commentary tracks you hear too often on DVDs.
Overall: Short, but funny.

Yule Log

Length: 2 hours
Video quality: 360p (not quite SD-quality)
Annoying ads or captions? Nope
What you’ll hear: A series of holiday songs and carols sung by independent (and pretty good) artists
Overall: The video quality isn’t amazing, but I love the Santa’s cap and guitar that flank the warm fireplace—and nice-looking logs, by the way.

Beautiful Wood-burning Fireplace Yule Log Video

Length: 20 minutes
Video quality: 720p HD
Annoying ads? Yes, but you can click them off
What you’ll hear: A soothing, steady crackle
Overall: The best-looking fire of the bunch, with logs that look like they came straight from the wood pile an and a strong, steady flame—and in HD, no less. If only the video clip were a wee bit longer…

WPIX Yule Log

Length: 8 minutes
Video quality: 480p, but it looks like a screen capture of a VHS tape
What you’ll hear: Traditional holiday instrumentals
Overall: Short, and iffy video quality, but c’mon—this is the original yule log video. A piece of television history, no doubt.

Happy holidays, everyone—and if you have a favorite YouTube Yule log, post it below!

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