I have had some previous experience with Google Alerts, but that was about a million years ago, when Andy Kaufman was suppose to have come out of hiding if he had really faked his death. But that's neither here nor there.
Since that time I haven't looked at Google alerts. There are many more options now as opposed to when I was looking for Andy Kaufman's zombie. I particularly like that you can schedule how often and how many results you want to receive.
When I was in high school and college there was a website called Babelfish. It would translate inputted words or websites, but it did it pretty poorly. That's pretty much been my only experience with any translation websites, so I wasn't expecting much out of Google Translate. I was pleasantly surprised at how cleanly it translated.
I can see how the alerts could be used in a class setting. If there is a semester long project about a current event that the students have to do, they could be required to set up Google Alerts in order to stay up to date about what's occurring. Even if there isn't a project, the students could be required to set a Google Alert and report, weekly, to the class about the newest Alerts they've received.
Google Translate has fairly obvious educational uses. It could assist students in foreign language classes to learn as well as help ESL students to get a firmer grip on words and phrases they may not understand.
