At SMX West Matt Cutts of Google announced they are actively working on the "next generation" Panda update that will "soften" the algorithm.
Matt specifically said this is aimed at helping small businesses that may be impacted by the Panda algorithm. There was no date given on its release but he made it clear, this will be a bigger update that will make Panda less of an impact on certain sites.
Yes, that is a Google Glass vignette view from Danny Sullivan while on stage, with my Search Engine Land story on the topic.
Didn't Google already soften the Panda algorithm? Yes. They announced it last may and rolled it out in July. With that, only 18% recovered fully with that last softer Panda update.
I assume when it rolls out, Matt Cutts will let us know, unlike other Panda refreshes.
Forum discussion at Google+.