Google Assistant opens to apps in December, and hardware makers next year

Google Assistant, the search giant's new personal digital assistant, is barely available to users, but Google isn't wasting any time opening it up to developers. During the company's hardware event on Tuesday, Google announced two new developer programs to build Google Assistant into pretty much anything you can think of. "Going back to Google's earliest days we've always worked hard to create healthy open platforms," said Scott Huffman, who leads the Google Assistant engineering team. "The Google Assistant will be our next thriving open ecosystem." The first new program is called Actions on Google, which will launch in early December and allow app makers to build Google Assistant into their services.