The New Year is almost upon us, which means the Technorati Developers Contest is coming to a close with a midnight, December 31 deadline. This was our first contest and we've been very happy with what we've seen, and we know there is more to be seen! For those who have submitted and those still coding, I want to make sure you get the support you need, so we'll be hosting two IRC chats next week before the December 31 deadline. This will be a chance for you to debug, get answers to questions, and get some 1:1 time with Technorati developers.

Here are details about the two chat and some general housekeeping notes:

1. Wednesday, December 29, 7 p.m. PST we'll have our fist IRC chat on Freenode on channel #technorati (great for those of you in the US and in Asia)

2. Thursday, December 30, 10 a.m. PST we'll have our second IRC chat again on Freenode on channel #technorati (great for those of you in the US and in Europe)

3. If you developed an application prior to the contest, you are eligible (and encouraged!) to submit it.

4. If you've already submitted, code but made some tweaks, you can resubmit. We want your application to be the best it can.

5. We will announce the winners on Friday, January 7.

6. Here's the URL to the form for submitting code: http://www.technorati.com/developers/contest.html. The form is at the bottom of the page.

Happy Holidays and a big thank you to all of our developers who have created a flurry of great activity around Technorati.