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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-10-2008 @ 2:56PM
Miranda Kali said...
Hell, I'm still trying to work out the whole "pudding" and "bread" thing.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 3:34PM
Joe said...
whats wrong with pudding and bread? we have biscuits and cookies over here, biscuits are more common though and supermarkets here sell american cookies...
4-10-2008 @ 3:54PM
Miranda Kali said...
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..
4-10-2008 @ 3:07PM
oddEvan said...
A cookie is just a cookie, but Newtons are fruit and cake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_Newtons#Advertising_and_popular_culture
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 3:29PM
Andrew said...
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.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 3:43PM
Jonathan Wise said...
I'm with Nik...
And hopefully most people have long since discovered "Clear Cookies" -- must be a slow news day :-p
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 7:07PM
John.B said...
Uh, that's why its called iPhone 101. :P
4-10-2008 @ 4:02PM
Alex Sayers said...
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.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 4:51PM
Smartin said...
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.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 5:21PM
stewart said...
and if you eat so many cookies that you get physically sick to your stomach, can it be said that you "woof your cookies"?
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 5:52PM
waiownsyou said...
Slow news day?
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 7:22PM
iPhoneinator said...
ill say.. everyones here arguing over tea cakes er sumthing!
4-10-2008 @ 6:41PM
rikki said...
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
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 10:15PM
Davux said...
Only thing? Heard of the internet? It's American, you can leave.
4-11-2008 @ 5:59AM
Steve said...
Perhaps you want to check out the work by Donald Davis
4-10-2008 @ 7:00PM
Sir. Poopy Pants said...
Which brings up a good question. Is the Big Mac a burger or a sandwich? What should we tax that.
Reply
4-10-2008 @ 7:24PM
rikki said...
a burger is the meat with a bun its a sandwich.
and you can tax it what you like...
4-11-2008 @ 7:25AM
Rikki said...
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4-10-2008 @ 7:30PM
iPhoneinator said...
i dont eat hamburgers anyway... ZAXBYS IS DA WAY 2 GO!!
Reply
4-11-2008 @ 4:09PM
Codey H. said...
I 100% support this post. Zaxby's for the win. :)