This SpringerBrief provides a synergistic overview of technology trends by emphasizing five linked perspectives: crowd+cloud machines, extreme cooperation with smart things, scalable context-awareness, drone services for mobile crowds and social links in mobile crowds. The authors also highlight issues and challenges at the intersection of these trends.  Topics covered include cloud computing, Internet of Things, mobile and wearable computing, crowd computing, the culture of thing sharing, collective computing, and swarm dynamics. The brief is a useful resource and a starting point for researchers, students or anyone interested in the contemporary computing landscape.