I tried this as well but gave up. Too slow.....

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the inner workings of iPhoto, but I'm assuming you have a "managed" library, meaning your library and pics are in the same place. This is the config I had trouble with. I was able to successfully use a "referenced" library, where the database was on my mac and the pictures were behind the pogo. It was when I switched to managed that I moved it off the pogo. Now, I just back up the library to the pogo. I have been working successfully with iTunes with the pogo. In a similar way, I have my music behind the pogo and only the iTunes library local. That seems to work fine. Therefore, you may be able to make both work to your satisfaction if you put the files behind the pogo and keep the DBs locally.