Really only one new feature to focus on: Mini map technology.
From the sounds of it, the next update will consist mostly of bug fixes and preparation for future mods! However, to the end user it will look mostly like a list of bug fixes.
But what is interesting is Minecraft has a due date to leave beta (November 11, 2011).
That seems like a pretty cool feature – definitely could of been helpful on our world this week. I don’t know if we should report that as a bug or not? For everyone thats interested heres the rest of notch’s blogpost http://notch.tumblr.com/post/4988431144/the-maps