We've released an updated version of our Contacts Control (formerly known as the Windows Live Contacts Gadget), with improved performance and functionality. Danny Thorpe explains what's new in more detail on his blog, but I've summarized below. Additionally, we've updated the Contacts Map and Party Start sample apps to use the new version of the control.  

Please test it out and use our forum to let us know what you think.

--Windows Live Dev team

New and improved in Beta v0.2:

• Performance - We've moved the control to a server closer to the contacts storage server, reducing the number of domain hops by half.  If you have a lot of contacts, you'll notice a huge improvement (order of magnitude?) in the load time with this new release compared to the first release.
• Clicks - The click noises in IE have been significantly reduced
• History litter - The cross-domain mechanism no longer leaves "droppings" in the browser history
• No ActiveX control prompts! - Proper use of the IE7 "native" XMLHttpRequest object.  We figured out why the IE7 XMLHttpRequest wasn't cooperating with our code and now it's humming along nicely. 
• Support for https - The cross-domain communication channel now conforms to the protocol of the host page URL.  You can now use the contacts control on your https pages (such as shopping cart checkout - hint hint).  This was a strong beta feedback request.  In hindsight, it seems pretty obvious, but we overlooked it the first time around.
• Contact details in tooltips - Hover the mouse over a contact in the list and the popup tooltip will display their name and address info.  This helps show a lot more detail without consuming more screen space.
• Refactored for modularity and versioning - Ok, so this isn't an end-user feature, but it is a big deal for enabling us to move forward quickly with future revision cycles for this control and others in the pipeline.  Modularity (encapsulation and isolation) are virtually non-existent in JavaScript.  I'm changing that.