Google contact image not synching in Picasa

I have been using google mail for a long time now and have always been impressed on how well it does what it needs to do. The recent update has also been a great improvement, especially the (new) functionality in the contacts (especially the merging of contact after importing from other sources). I have started to put my contacts in gmail and have been updating the images too.

Another google application I use often is Picasa. The people functionality in Picasa (with the face recognition) a great tool and is one of the reasons why I am so fond of Picasa.

After I had updated and reorganized my contacts (in gmail), I assumed that they will also available in Picasa. My assumption was correct, with one disappointment: the contact image did not show up. I also realized that I had now duplicate contacts: the ones in Picasa I created during face recognition and the contacts from gmail. Unluckily I could not find any way to merge them.

So my feature request for Picasa is right now: 

1. Extend the “central” contact list (used by gmail) with all the properties (including contact image, etc), with the ability still to check whether a contact in Picasa should be synchronized, which also seems to be the second most requested feature in Picasa :)
2. Ability to merge an existing Picasa portrait/contact with the “central” contact list, meaning that when the Picasa contact has an image and the “central” contact doesn’t, it would copy it and (also the nickname), without loosing all the photos where the contact has been spotted.

Hope this will get implemented soon.