I spent last week at Fortune Brainstorm TECH in Aspen, Colorado. Yes, it was very tough. There is absolutely nothing to see or do in Aspen – and the views are atrocious.

All joking aside, I was thrilled at the opportunity to participate in this year’s conference. Each year, the world’s top technology leaders, entrepreneurs and influencers gather together for three days of thought-provoking discussion and debate, which ultimately informs Fortune magazine’s editorial coverage for the coming year.

I was able to meet some extremely passionate leaders and entrepreneurs during my time at the conference. Here’s a sampling of just a few companies that are absolutely on fire right now, and I think deserve a shout out. Each one has found an innovative way to address the age-old need for entertainment and relevant content through the evolving media landscape:

Flipboard: You know you are on to something when you break the Internet. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the entire Internet. However, when Mike McCue launched his latest company, the response from people eager to get the free iPad app was so great that Flipboard couldn’t accommodate everyone immediately.

McCue demonstrated the sought after app for the first time publicly at Fortune Brainstorm TECH. Inspired by the beauty of print and designed for the iPad, Flipboard creates a “magazine” out of a user’s social content. Flipboard aims to improve how people discover, view and share content across their social networks, and judging from the immediate and incredible response in the first few days, it looks like it will do just that!

Zynga: Did you know that more than 30 million Facebook users fertilize and grow crops every day on their FarmVilles? We have Zynga to thank for that. Zynga makes social games that are free and accessible for everyone to play. Every month, 235+ million people interact with their friends and express their unique personalities through games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, YouVille and Zynga Poker. Zynga players have also raised more than $3 million for several international nonprofits by purchasing virtual social goods within their favorite games that have benefited earthquake victims in Haiti and contributed to school lunch programs for children.

Scribd: As the largest social publishing and reading site in the world, Scribd has set out to rewrite the rules of publishing. The company has made it incredibly simple for anyone to share and discover informative, entertaining and original written content on the Web and mobile devices. Scribd maximizes the power of the Web to bring readers and creators of written content together, regardless of physical or format constraints, or even where or how they want to share and consume that content. On Scribd, there are no printing, distribution or storage costs. Content gets quickly discovered through a network of social websites and search engines, where even the most obscure topics find their audience.

Stay tuned for more Fortune Brainstorm TECH highlights, as well as commentary and a link to my favorite presentation of the conference!  (Hint: There was some serious dancing involved!)

–Posted by Jill Newberry