The media moguls attending an annual powwow staged by investment bank Allen & Co. used to be able to rest comfortably in the Idaho mountains as they mulled their next moves.

Even if they didn't hatch any big deals or bright ideas, the media executives could try to squeeze more profit from their firm grip on the flow of news, entertainment and seemingly everything else people read, watched or heard.

Things have changed radically since Allen & Co.'s first summer summit in 1983. The conference, which returns to Sun Valley on Tuesday, now revolves around the technology trailblazers who have turned computers and mobile phones into multimedia hubs that are tormenting newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, music labels and movie studios.

The disruption has the geeks playing the dual role of the media's sages and scourges.

This week, Twitter Inc. CEO Evan Williams will likely be in high demand as everyone tries to figure out whether the online messaging service is a fad or a revolutionary breakthrough in communications.

"Ev is going to be the belle of the ball," predicted Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga Inc., a developer of games widely played at online hangouts such as Facebook. Pincus is going to the Allen conference for the first time.

With roots going to the 1920s, Allen & Co. is run by Herb Allen, the grandson of one of the firm's founders. Although relatively small, Allen & Co. has become a prominent media investment bank by emphasizing a personal touch - such as the Sun Valley summit. The firm invites current and prospective clients to spend five days frolicking with their families at a posh lodge made famous by Ernest Hemingway.

When they aren't playing tennis, golfing, biking, swimming, fishing and rafting, the guests are cloistered in presentations about emerging opportunities and business challenges.

The Allen & Co. guest list isn't officially disclosed, but familiar media faces at the conference typically include News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch; Donald Graham, head of the Washington Post Co., and Robert Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co.

Allen & Co. began sharpening its focus on technology in 2001, around the time the dot-com bust caused other investment bankers to abandon California's Silicon Valley and New York's Silicon Alley. The firm has tried to enmesh more media leaders in the Web by regularly inviting Internet innovators such as browser pioneer Marc Andreessen, Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos and Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. All are expected back this year.