Have you noticed something different about the Internet stocks that survived the dot-com bubble?

Last night, Amazon(Nasdaq: AMZN) reported a stronger than expected 33% uptick in revenue on the way to raking in $120 million in free cash flow over the past year. It also upped its guidance for its seasonally potent December period. That follows search provider Overture(Nasdaq: OVER), which topped analyst targets on Tuesday with revenue up a whopping 138% on record profits of $0.28 a share. Last week, Netflix(Nasdaq: NFLX) raised the bar on its video rental outlook for the holiday season, after Yahoo!(Nasdaq: YHOO) and eBay(Nasdaq: EBAY) smoked projections earlier this month.

The Internet sector has logged more hits than the Anaheim Angels lately, with Amazon's shares nearly tripling over the past year. Yahoo! and AOL Time Warner(NYSE: AOL), whose stocks dipped into the single digits over the summer, trade in the mid-teens now.

What gives? Like a cheesy B-movie, are these the horrific beasts that can't be killed? A couple of years ago, dot-com upstarts sucked down venture capital like plasma, and it bled out of their collective pores for a while. Now they seem to be self-sustaining, profitable survivors, with the intriguing distinction of hitting Wall Street numbers out of the ballpark at a time when many other sectors are striking out.

Ironic, ain't it?

Somewhere out there, eToys and Webvan are kicking themselves. If only they could've outlived the hype, maybe -- just maybe -- they would be giants walking through the ruins today. They banked on a never-ending supply of subsidies without ever formulating a workable operating model.

The Internet is a viable business format now, and those left standing are doing so unassisted. Pity the carnage.