Why I love Make magazine, reason #179: They?ll teach you how to become an iPhone surgeon. The publisher's ?Maker Shed? off-shoot is holding a live webcast today ? Friday, May 15 at 10 am PT ? in conjunction with O?Reilly Media, and it's all about hardware and software hacks for the iPhone. 

The company, which put out a book called ?iPhone Hacks,? is producing this free one-hour event focusing on the last couple of chapters. But it's not for the faint of heart. The webcast is geared for intermediate and advanced hackers who don't fear hardware manipulation or software development. But these tricks don't require jailbreaking or a 3.0 approval process. Just steady hands and strong heart. So if you?re into rigging your handset to use keyboards and serial devices, for example, then this one's got your name all over it. 

And why not? With a new iPhone likely on the way, is there a better time to tinker with that soon-to-be last-gen handset? 

If you?re interested, dive right in and register here. Not sure? Check out this short vid showing what can be accomplished with these hacks and see if that tempts you.  

[via Make]