Redstone Update

The Redstone Update is a planned major update labeled as 1.5

Planned Changes for the Redstone Update
Note: Most of the changes listed here have no references since most of them were mentioned at MineCon 2012 respectively at the MineCon 2012 livestream (especially the Future Updates with the Minecraft PC Team talk)

Redstone Improvements

 * More predictable and consistent behaviour
 * The functionality of BUDs will be affected
 * Most of the timings of redstone contraptions will change
 * Overall Redstone will be more like analog signals
 * Redstone signal strength will matter (for some blocks)
 * Capacitor block
 * Only outputs a signal if the input has a specific strength
 * Configurable like a repeater
 * Perhaps a revised form of the Allocator
 * Used to suck up items into a container/transport items between container
 * Weighted Pressure Plates
 * Outputs a signal with a strength corresponding to the weight of the entity (e.g. Storage Minecarts) sitting on the pressure plate/detector rail
 * Perhaps a Daylight Detector
 * Outputs a signal with a strength corresponding to the intensity of the sunlight
 * Redstone repeater lock improvements
 * Some Redstone bugfixes
 * Perhaps a new ore for crafting the new redstone machines
 * Will not be available in The Overworld, thus forcing the player to explore other dimensions
 * Can probably be found in the The Nether

Minecart improvements

 * New ways of transporting items
 * Using Minecarts similar to RedPower/BuildCraft pipes
 * New uses for Storage Minecarts
 * Filling and emptying Storage Minecarts
 * Specific Rails to empty them
 * Linking Minecarts together (driven by Furnace Minecarts)

Rendering engine rewrite
The features were:
 * Current engines has some bugs
 * Will require a higher OpenGL feature-set
 * Will include some sort of fallback for older hardware
 * Support for high resolution texture packs
 * The geometry of individual textures can differ
 * No support for HD skins
 * Much faster overall rendering, thus higher FPS.
 * Includes the lighting fixes first introduced in snapshots 12w39a/b (during 1.4 development)
 * Support for fancy lighting control
 * Support for more realistic lighting, such as active furnaces only giving off light from their front surface

Other

 * No new mobs
 * Perhaps Fireworks for New Year's Eve
 * Will be a safe explosion
 * Perhaps a method to transfer enchantments from a paper to a weapon
 * Possibility of Ghast Fireballs' sizes to be edited via third party programs