TwitApps was a great tool, it would email you when somebody @mentioned you on twitter. But, alas, they are shutting down and leaving what I think is a huge hole.
So I built my own service that does the exact same thing.
To use the service, visit MentionNotifier, and subscribe to your @mentions. To get notified of updates, follow @MentionNotifier or @timhibbard on twitter.
Here are some of the FAQ’s:
Q: What is this?
A: It is a service to notify you by email when somebody has mentioned you in a tweet.
Q: Who do the emails come from?
A: MentionNotifier@gmail.com
Q: How quickly will I be notified of a new tweet?
A: Currently, it checks every minute.
Q: How does it work?
A: It uses the search API of twitter to check for your twitter username.
Q: Isn't that just a glorified RSS reader?
A: Yes.
Q: Will it work with hashtags?
A: Yes. Put in the search string you want to be notified on (#KUbball) and the email address to send new tweets to.
Q: Will I receive multiple emails if I get multiple mentions?
A: It will group the mentions into a single email each checking cycle.
Q: Will it work if I get a mention from somebody that protects their tweets?
A: No, because protected tweets are not part of the public timeline.