When you type something like "www.yahoo.com" into your browser, for instance, your request hits your Internet service provider's DNS server, which translates it into a numeric IP address. If you plug that IP address into your browser's URL bar in lieu of the web address, barring any IP tricks, you'll land on the exact same web page.
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Matt, have you ever run an http server? Did you actually try the experiment you describe? Yahoo has long required a Host name in addition to an IP address. No Host name, no dice.
Most http servers are serving differing (or the same) content for a variety of Host names. The buzzword is "virtual hosting". The person running such a server may choose to accomodate the situation where no Host name is provided, and serve you some "default" content. Or he made not. Where the web (http) is concerned, IP addresses alone will rarely suffice. The web of course is only a small part of the internet.
Also, would you care to elaborate on what you mean by "IP tricks".
I have a bigger problem with "tech journalism" like this than I do with Google Drive and other cloud storage nonsense.