A finger device initiates actions on a computer system when placed in contact with a surface. The finger device includes instrumentation that captures images and gestures. When in contact with a surface, the finger device captures images of the surface and gestures made on the surface. The finger device also transmits the images and gesture data to the computer system. An application on the computer system matches the images received from the finger device to a representation of the surface, identifies an action associated with the surface representation and gesture, and executes the action. Instrumenting the finger instead of the surface, allows a user to configure virtually any surface to accept touch input.