A while back I saw a video showing features that were going to be implemented in Blender. One of these was being able to see the UV map while texture painting, without having to be in Edit Mode. Did that ever happen, and if so, how do you do it?
You mean the wireframe above the model?
In the video, the guy was painting in the UV/Image editor and the object was in Object mode, but the UV map was still showing(in the UV/Image editor). He said it was a new feature, but this was several versions ago.
Oh, in object mode! hm… no idea, sorry. Although I really hope someone knows anything about that here.
Apparently this has been added in 2.62. 
Awesome news!