FYI, the IRDA encoder is next to the 3.6864MHz xtal just above the RAM chips; it's labelled HSDL7001.

Pin 2 is TX (-from- the strongarm) and pin 3 is RX (-to- the strongarm). You'd have to lift pin 3 from the board to stop the 7001 from driving the line.

You can get 3.3v from pin 16, and ground is on pin 8.

As for external bluetooth modules, try www.brainboxes.com - I've not tried them, but I think they're just bluetooth transceivers in a box...

Hugo