This is a blog about Minecraft 1.4 and new features will be added when Mojang adds them to Snapshots.

Current Snapshot Version for 1.4: It is now the 1.4 Pre-Release

The snapshot/pre-release can be found here on Mojang's website:
http://www.mojang.com/2012/10/minecraft-1-4-pre-release/

NOTE: All of the pictures in this blog are from MinecraftWiki.The only one that I myself took is the one at the top that you first see before you read.I also added the words to it.

Now for the blog itself:

Minecraft 1.4 Pretty Scary Update!

The Minecraft 1.4 Pretty Scary Update is a new update adding lots of new features including some mobs, blocks, and more!

The planned Release date for the update: "Sometime before Halloween" (No set date yet, it used to be exactly Halloween October 31st.)

New blocks:
-Beacon
-Flower Pots
-Creeper, Steve(Default Skin), Player(Not Steve), Skeleton, Zombie, and Wither Skeleton heads
-Command Block for Adventure Mode
-Cobblestone and Mossy Cobblestone Walls

-Anvils

New Items that arn't blocks:
-Item Frames (Though I guess they're some kind-of block, because you place them)
-Maps that can be right clicked to show a real map (An Empty Map)
-Nether Star
-Pumpkin Pie
-Potatoes (Regular, Baked, and Poisonous)
-Carrots & Golden Carrots
-Carrot on a Stick
-New Invisibility and Night Vision Potions
-New Witch and Bat Spawn Eggs
-New painting that shows how to summon the Wither

New Mobs:
-Wither Boss
-Wither Skeletons
-Zombie Villagers
-Bats
-Witches

New Changes to Things (Including Sounds and Textures):
-Apple texture looks shaded kind-of
-You can dye Leather Armor, can be washed in a Cauldron filled with water, also some new detail seems to have been added to the Leather Armor
-Beef, Steak, Raw/Cooked Chicken, Raw/Cooked Pork, and Bread textures have been edited
-New Wood, Stone, Grass Block, Sand, SoulSand, Gravel, and Plants sounds
-Some New Cow, Pig, Zombie, Skeleton, and Enderman sounds
-New Level Up sound, sounds like the sound you hear from the flying crystal thing in the Technic mod pack, but it will be changed later to a shorter one (You level up when collecting enough Experience Orbs)
-New Water and Lava sounds
-New sound for placing and climbing Ladders (Are you wondering when you will stop reading new sounds?)
-Zombies will use an attack animation when attacking if they're holding a tool like an Iron Shovel
-Nether loads faster when going through a portal, is instantaneous in Creative Mode
-Silverfish source blocks have a chance of spawning/generating in caves

-Slimes can spawn in swamps

-Villagers will be more aware

-All hostile mobs will jump down to players if they can survive the fall.They will be willing to take more damage depending on difficulty

-Fire spreads more aggressively depending on difficulty

-Iron Golems will attack Creepers, Slimes, and Magma Cubes

-Creepers will explode when they hit the ground, (Like if they're falling) with explosions being more imminent with higher falls.Will be able to have a custom explosion radius and fuse timer by using edited mob spawners and NBT tags

-Zombies will be able to pick up tools and wear armor, so don't drop your stuff :3 They can also pick up TNT though I don't think they do anything with it.(I gave one TNT in one of the snapshots) They can also pick up golden apples, doors, and maybe some other things



The Wither:

The Wither is a new boss that you can summon by placing 4 Soulsand blocks like you would with iron blocks when making an iron golem, then placing 3 Wither Skeleton heads on top.
The Wither will attack all mobs that are living, it will not attack undead mobs unless they somehow attack the Wither.Undead mobs: Skeleton, Zombie, Wither Skeleton, Zombie Pigman.(Not sure if it attacks the zombie pigman or not though.)

The Wither looks like a big, floating, black, skeletal creature with 3 heads and no legs.It will shoot wither skulls at you which will give you the Wither Effect if on Normal Mode or above.The Wither Effect turns your health bar black and drains your health slowly, healing the Wither.Also, harming potions will heal the Wither, and healing potions will harm the Wither, like with other UnDead mobs.At a certain point when its health is down, it will gain Wither Armor, and when it gets the armor, you can't hurt it with projectiles like arrows.It drops a Nether Star.When idle, and has no target to attack, the Wither will shoot blue Wither Skulls that can break almost any block, even obsidian, except for bedrock.These skulls are slow however, and the Wither will only shoot them on Normal or Hard difficulty.

Wither Skeletons:

Wither Skeletons are like Skeletons but are black like the Wither, are bigger, and use a Stone Sword instead of a Bow.They only spawn inside Nether Fortresses in the Nether.A Skeleton SpawnEgg has a chance of spawning a Wither Skeleton when in the Nether.If they attack you, they give you the Wither Effect even in Easy Mode, but it lasts shorter than the effect the Wither Boss gives you.They rarely drop Wither Skeleton Heads/Skulls, which are needed to summon the Wither Boss, and Stone Swords.They will also drop 0-1 Coal and 0-2 Bones, but not rarely.

Bats:

Bats are passive mobs which will sometimes hang upside down on a block, and they will fly away if a player gets too close to them.They drop nothing currently.

Witches:

Witches look like Villagers, but their skin is paler, they have a wart thing on their nose, and they wear purple and green robes with brown leggings, and wear a witch hat.They drink healing potions to heal themselves and try to attack you with potions like Poison and Weakness potions.They are immune to certain splash potions, and Iron Golems will try to attack/kill them.They drop Sticks, Spider Eyes, GlowStone Dust, GunPowder, Sugar, RedStone Dust, Glass Bottles, Water Bottles, and 5 Experience, and they rarely drop Potions of Healing, Potions of Fire Resistance, and Potions of Swiftness.

Zombie Villager:

Zombie Villagers are actually just regular Zombies but they have a green zombie villager head.Zombie Villagers appear when regular Villagers are infected by zombies, though rarely they can spawn by themselves.

Beacon Block:

The Beacon Block is a block that is crafted with 5 glass, 1 Nether Star, and 3 Obsidian.You can make a pyramid up to 16 blocks wide out of Iron, Gold, Diamond, or Emerald blocks and place them as the last block on top.They will shoot a beam into the sky.If you place an iron ingot, gold ingot, diamond, or an emerald into the one slot near the check mark, you'll be able to get some effects that you choose at the top then click the check mark button, and you and other players within the pyramid range will get the effects.

Flower Pot:

The Flower Pot is crafted the same way as a Bucket but you use Bricks instead of Iron Ingots.You can place any kind-of flower or tree sapling in the pot, even dead bushes, mushrooms, and cactus.

CobbleStone/Mossy CobbleStone Walls:

CobbleStone walls are crafted with 6 CobbleStone in the shape of a sign, but no stick.Same with Mossy CobbleStone Walls, but use Mossy CobbleStone.They act similar to fences, but the model is different.

Carrots, Golden Carrots, Potatoes, and Pumpkin Pie:


Same as other foods I think except different textures, Poisonous Potatoes will poison you on Normal or above.Golden Carrots can be used to brew Potions of Night Vision

Mob Heads:


Mob Heads will drop rarely from mobs,(Creepers, Skeletons, Zombies, Players, Wither Skeletons) and can be worn as hats that cover your head.Unlike the pumpkin, it will cover only the first layer of your head, so your hat/second head layer if you have one on your skin will still show.

Carrot on a Stick:

Crafted with 1 Fishing Rod and 1 Carrot, diagonal like how you craft Flint'and'Steel.
If you have a saddle on a pig, you can ride it and hold this in your hand and it will go where ever you are pointing with the Carrot on a Stick in your hand.The pig can jump blocks.Eventually the pig will eat the Carrot and so you'll need to put another one on the Fishing Rod.

Nether Star:

The Nether Star is dropped from the Wither along with a lot of exp orbs when it dies.It has a purple-ish glow like armor does when enchanted and golden apples.Its needed to craft the Beacon.

Wooden Buttons:

Crafted the same way as regular Buttons, but with Wooden Planks.Unlike the Stone Buttons, you can active this one with Arrows.

Item Frames:

Item Frames are crafted the same way as Paintings but with Leather in the middle.They can be placed on the sides of blocks and any item or block can be placed inside them.You can have working wall Clocks, Maps, and Compasses with these.(But the Compass will always be pointing in the same direction ofcourse unless you change the spawn point with a program or something.)

Invisibility and Night Vision Potions:
The Invisibility Potion, as the name implies, will turn you invisible.You can turn mobs invisible with a Splash Potion of Invisibility, and if you're invisible, mobs won't see you until you bump into them, and this potion's color I think is gray, or kind-of, atleast.
Night Vision Potions will let you see in darkness, it makes darkness bright, and this potion's color is blue.Remember, this will not stop monsters from spawning, you will still need torches or another light source


Anvil:



Anvils can be used to repair and name tools and other things.I think you can name almost any block or item, so you can name a sponge "SpongeBob" probably :3 An anvil has 3 stages, Anvil (Not damaged), Slightly Damaged Anvil, and Very Damaged Anvil.You can combine enchantments from 2 of the same tools to get more.I'm not sure if there's a limit.Repairing and Renaming tools will cost Experience Points.Anvils will also fall like sand and gravel, and can be used as traps to damage or kill mobs or players.

That's all for now, if I missed anything, tell me.And I know there are blogs like this already, but I wanted to make my own, so don't be a hater .__.

You can find a lot of information about things on MinecraftWiki:
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Minecraft_Wiki