There's a new Dashboard Update out there and it includes major changes to the 360 user experience. Despite the dramatic update, your 1337pwn XBOX Live Friends widget will continue to work properly. Unfortunately, for the short-term, you can expect slower than normal status refreshes as Microsoft works out the XBOX Live deployment kinks.
UPDATE: Microsoft is working on the XBOX Live stability issues and slowness. They're indicating that stability should improve during the next 48 hours.