Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Horoscope Review: Hooked on Jonathan Cainer

Unlike other astrologers, Jonathan Cainer is most worth reading on the weekends. A nice long general forecast for your coming week appears on Saturday, and on Sunday, a weekly "Love Focus" forecast. Have you never heard of him?
Jonathan Cainer writes daily, weekly, monthly, and annual Sun-sign horoscopes for London's Daily Mail newspaper and it appears in print almost everywhere but in the U.S. Although a few critics whine that Cainer never got a diploma in astrology, he has earned his international popularity by evolving and improving his website and approach. Clearly a totally commercial enterprise, www.cainer.com is still, after fifteen years, one of the most complete and consistent astrology sites. Daily and weekly 'scopes are free; monthly 'scopes are available free on the first Saturday of the month.
Fans almost unanimously declare Cainer's written forecasts "spot on," probably because of this clever gimmick: They first tap the reader's imagination with metaphors or chatty openers such as, "Let's say you've gone into a pub and ordered a drink --." The reader's mind opens -- priceless -- and then the forecast's above-average length raises the chances that you can apply what he says to your personal situation. One online interview said Cainer writes 25,000 words per week. There's no question he writes quickly and airily, and sometimes the daily 'scopes are just hot air, I grant you. But I wouldn't call his work sloppy or wholly irresponsible. Writing at that speed and volume the best an astrologer might do is describe the drift of things. At this he succeeds.
Cainer is a talented writer and businessman, always staking out fresh territory. His site was among the first to have phone-in horoscopes (no longer available) and an Android app. He might not please everyone. But his online horoscopes are custom-written and not fake, and have pleased readers since 1994 (they're multi-lingual, too; click on the little national flags). When someone is that successful, it is usually because he's delivered the goods.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, monitors 70-plus online horoscopes for quality and accuracy. To read more horoscope reviews, click here. Copyright 2012 by Sylvia Sky.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Horoscope Review: Facebook's Top Three Horoscopes

If you got your Facebook daily-horoscope app through a friend you may not know there are three major Facebook daily-horoscope apps, all very different. Make an informed choice about the app that works best for you:

  • http://apps.facebook.com/daily-horoscope: Astrologers at Dailyhoroscopes.net provide the text here. They also supply the Twitter Tweetscopes with their highly simplified but hugely popular daily "percentages" representing the quantity of astrological "good luck" on tap for the day. The Facebook-impaired will find that their website makes the 'scopes and percentages much more accessible. These daily 'scopes often seem low on useful information and plumped with "filler" phrases such as "on the other hand," but this Facebook app has 421,000 monthly active users who'd argue in its favor. Its favicon is a pink square with a white sunburst.
  • http://apps.facebook.com/dailyhoroscopeapp/set_birthday.php, although not developed by Facebook, presents a daily horoscope unique to Facebook and has 2,111,490 monthly active users. The text correctly describes the day's planetary aspects and gives a sophisticated interpretation that for me is never accurate. By contrast, its "Love" forecast is superior. Annoying requests for "ZenBucks" appear if users want to see the next day's 'scope or change their zodiac icons.The other apps on this list offer tomorrow's forecast for free! No favicon will appear when this app is listed on your profile, but the app itself shares a blue icon with horoscope.com's Facebook page. Facebook's Horoscope.com app, however, will give you a totally different daily horoscope.
  • Calling itself a "game" rather than an application, http://apps.facebook.com/daily-horos/ has dreadfully cute kiddie graphics that are misleading. The day's "Love" forecast is represented by one to five hearts plus a one-line message, the "Work" forecast by one to five briefcase icons and a message, and so on. But the text goes right to the point; for example, "Refrain from eating a heavy meal after 5 p.m." That's not kiddie language and this is is not a kiddie horoscope. For me it's the most accurate Facebook 'scope of the three. This app also sorts your Facebook friends by Sun sign, which can be interesting. It has 1,190,000 monthly active users and its favicon is a fat five-pointed yellow star.

Enjoy your chosen Facebook horoscope. May it entertain and enlighten you.

Sylvia Sky, experienced astrologer, reviews online horoscopes for quality and accuracy. Read more reviews at hubpages.com. Copyright © 2010 by Sylvia Sky. Email horoscopereview@gmail.com. Information is current as of 17 November 2010.