Google has introduced a feature in its toolbar that appears to by-pass the ‘fill-in’ function in the address bar of Internet Explorer,  and allows you to type in a name (no www. or TLD) and it takes you to where it guessed you wanted to go.  You have to have downloaded Google toolbar, but you type the name into the browser address bar. Reminiscent of the late Real Names, you are taken directly to the page Google determine’s is most relevant to your search.  If there is no clear winner, apparently, Google takes you to a page of search results.

Putting the feature through its paces, I received the following:

WHITE HOUSE – whitehouse.gov  FORD – ford.com SCRIPTING – search results  DELTA – delta.com LLOYDS – lloydstsb.com  BUSH – search results  TRADEMARK – uspto.gov  TRADEMARK BLOG – me  VIAGRA – search results  SUN – search results APPLE – apple.com

SearchEngineWatch reports that IE already has this functionality, in the Tools>Internet Options>Advanced tab.

I was going to email Keith Teare (founder of Real Names) and ask him what he thought but this piece from his blog entitled “Google Ripped Off Real Names Idea!” seems to cover that.