Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, iPhone 101
iPhone 101: Clearing cookies from Mobile Safari
This morning, I Farked my way over to this story about British Tea Cakes. The tea cakes, which appear to be nothing more than British mallomars, have been re-categorized from biscuits to cake. Far be it from me to dispute the accumulated wisdom of the EU high courts, but from this American vantage point if it looks like a cookie and tastes like a cookie, perhaps the tea cake actually is a cookie -- and not a cake. I consulted TUAW's in-residence Britishness expert Nik, who threw up his hands and asked (justifiably) whether this was actually related to Apple or its products.
Being in a cookie-minded mode, I decided to respond to a reader who asked about issues on the iPhone in visiting mobile versions of sites that were less than accommodating upon revisits. Some mobile sites hide "log out and log in as another user" details in their mobile formats. (I would point the finger at FireEagle/Yahoo--but lately they've cleaned up those problems rather nicely.)
If this situation happens to you and you really need to access a site as if it were your first visit, let me recommend clearing your cookies. And yes, I can hear you groaning: "You want us to do...what?". Unfortunately, with Mobile Safari, cookie clearing is an all or nothing proposition. You can't just clear cookies associated with a single site. It's a clean sweep or nothing at all.
To do this, open Settings > Safari. Scroll down and select Clear Cookies. The iPhone throws up a pop-up confirmation. Tap Clear Cookies and quit from Settings. Your problem sites should now act as if it's your first visit.
And, as for that whole tea cake thing? If you serve cookies for supper, are they tea cakes rather than biscuits? British people feel free to expound in the comments.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Miranda Kali said 2:56PM on 4-10-2008
Hell, I'm still trying to work out the whole "pudding" and "bread" thing.
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Joe said 3:34PM on 4-10-2008
whats wrong with pudding and bread? we have biscuits and cookies over here, biscuits are more common though and supermarkets here sell american cookies...
Miranda Kali said 3:54PM on 4-10-2008
Nothing's wrong with pudding and bread! I like's em, I do. It's just that Yorkshire pudding seems a bit like bread to me..
oddEvan said 3:07PM on 4-10-2008
A cookie is just a cookie, but Newtons are fruit and cake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_Newtons#Advertising_and_popular_culture
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Andrew said 3:29PM on 4-10-2008
I understand it can seem a bit odd at first, but having studied EU law it is not that weird at all once you understand why.
The fact is that in order ensure free trade in and amongst the EU member nations products and services have to be categorized so that taxes and rules do not differ from one country to another.
If it's legally a "cookie" one tax applies, whereas if it's a "cake" another and totally different tax might make it more or less competitive.
If a country decides on this individually it can be used to protect domestic producers from foreign competition. So the EU courts sometimes have to rule on what may seem absurd, but is in reality a very important distinction to the companies involved.
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Jonathan Wise said 3:43PM on 4-10-2008
I'm with Nik...
And hopefully most people have long since discovered "Clear Cookies" -- must be a slow news day :-p
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John.B said 7:07PM on 4-10-2008
Uh, that's why its called iPhone 101. :P
Alex Sayers said 4:02PM on 4-10-2008
As far as I knew, a teacake was one of these: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Teacake.jpg which is really more of a bun than a biscuit or cake. The M&S thing looks more like a biscuit to me, and the use of "teacake" seems to be a misnomer.
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stewart said 5:21PM on 4-10-2008
and if you eat so many cookies that you get physically sick to your stomach, can it be said that you "woof your cookies"?
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Smartin said 4:51PM on 4-10-2008
Just to clear thinks up, a biscuit or cookie is defined by the tax people as a luxury and is subject to VAT or sales tax of 17.5% (just like Macs). A cake is not a luxury according to the Government (what wise and consistent people they are) and is zero rated for VAT. Therefore because the teacake is now a cake M&S didn't need to pay VAT but did and can have there money back.
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waiownsyou said 5:52PM on 4-10-2008
Slow news day?
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iPhoneinator said 7:22PM on 4-10-2008
ill say.. everyones here arguing over tea cakes er sumthing!
rikki said 6:41PM on 4-10-2008
i would just like to say i thought you americans spoke english, so if the english say tea cake, its tea cake!
the only good thing to come out of the states it my apple mac not a big mac
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Davux said 10:15PM on 4-10-2008
Only thing? Heard of the internet? It's American, you can leave.
Steve said 5:59AM on 4-11-2008
Perhaps you want to check out the work by Donald Davis
Sir. Poopy Pants said 7:00PM on 4-10-2008
Which brings up a good question. Is the Big Mac a burger or a sandwich? What should we tax that.
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rikki said 7:24PM on 4-10-2008
a burger is the meat with a bun its a sandwich.
and you can tax it what you like...
Rikki said 7:25AM on 4-11-2008
internet american?, i do belive what makes the internet is people all over the world adding to it...
if it was like your baseballs WORLD series, only played in american!
the internet would just be full of porn and plasic hollywood
if not for people like us.
so Davux or President bush what ever you name is, there are lots of people all over the world who invent things that we all use, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
iPhoneinator said 7:30PM on 4-10-2008
i dont eat hamburgers anyway... ZAXBYS IS DA WAY 2 GO!!
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Codey H. said 4:09PM on 4-11-2008
I 100% support this post. Zaxby's for the win. :)